2009 Wisconsin Budget - Waxing America's Plan

Frankly it is a waste of time to run a score card on who won in the 2007 Wisconsin budget deliberations. Nothing changed since January when this present legislative session opened.

The right-wing religious and social conservatives, unprecedented in their disdain for Wisconsin, were a known factor. They held a legislative veto by controlling the Republicans Party's caucus. They are a dying breed and on the way out if progressives in both parties assert themselves in the next twelve months.

• The moderate Republicans must say they have had enough. The University of Wisconsin System is not a Democratic or Republican institution. It belongs to the people of this state and it educates all of them regardless of the political leanings of journalism instructors in Milwaukee or sociology professors in Madison. The unprecedented attack on higher education must end.
• Both parties, particularly the Democrats, must be managed by ordinary people, not the legislative leaders. It was the people that gave the Dems a majority in the 1960's and 70's, only to see it pissed away by legislative leaders in the 1980's and 90's. Recent Democratic majorities are the result of the people, not legislative leadership.
• Business leaders must assert themselves within our state's institutions, starting with Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC). That two-pony show, "no taxes and screw the UW," is only hurting the infrastructure and the long term economy of the state. Business leaders need to refocus their priorities -they know they need an educated workforce and infrastructure to make a buck.
• Democrats must stop being apoplectic when the word 'business' is uttered. It is not necessary to provide tax breaks, or the kind of anti-consumer legislation as we see in the present ATT "video competition" bill. What business needs is quick decisive action, not foot dragging. It is hackneyed, but "time is money."
• Labor unions, public and private, must embrace efforts to improve production and efficiency through systemic changes.  This was accomplished twnety years ago when AFSCME locals and Teamsters were greeted with a handshake, not a chainsaw.
• Management must stop the assault on labor, the outsourcing and downsizing, and invite workers to sit at the table to figure out real quality improvements in both public and private organizations.
• Does anyone who know a politician committed to improvement who is done taking cheap shots at labor and wishes to bring about true organizational and systematic change?   Hello? Is someone  out there?
• Anyone who runs on the 2007 budget and not the future will lose.

Comments

[nonheroicvet]

I agree with most of this post but I especially like the the part about parties being managed by ordinary people rather than legislative leaders. Both the DC Dem and Mad Dem Legislative leaders just in the past week have once again presented us with --- THE BAG --- to hold while they pat themselves on the back. I for one am ready for major change in Wis Dem leadership - Any ideas? I have many Republican friends who feel the same about their party.

[Peter]

I'll speak to nonheroicvet's comment about party reform from the Democratic perspective.

Join the party as a member (in Wisconsin, it's a dues-based organization - which is actually very good for those who seek reform). Get active, throw yourself into things, crash the gates. Work to elect progressive Democrats - who include as one of their progressive principles that of being a lower-case "d" democrat along with being a strong, proud capital "D" Democrat.

[nonheroicvet]

I have been a loyal supporter of Wis Dems for many years in terms of $ although I have not joined the party. I was especially PO'd about the current Dem Chairman's efforts to sell me out on the ATT/Cingular bill. When I get the fundraising phone calls from the state party, I ask for assurance that the chairman has changed his ways and that the party has taken steps to avoid such conflicts in the future. Needless to say the script reader cannot give such assurance. I do not expect these positions to be filled by saints, at the same time I do not expect them to stab me in the back for personal gain. I will continue to support individual candidates with $ and perhaps someday the state party if the leadership mends its ways or is changed.