Friday, March 2, 2012

Wisconsin, Inc. - History Repeats Itself

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to be  a panelist at a forum discussing the merits of recalling Scott Walker.  One of my co-panelists was the erudite Professor Edward Fallone of Marquette University, who gave us a lesson on the history of recalls and how it became a treasured part of our state constitution.

The lesson that Professor Malone gave us that evening has stuck with me ever since.

At the forum, he taught us that eighty or so years ago, there was a grassroots movement sweeping the nation.  At that time, businesses and the richest members of the country were using their wealth to have an undue influence on the government at all levels. And because the politicians were kowtowing to these big-moneyed special interests, the people felt that their voices were not being heard.

In response to not being listened to, the people made damn sure they were heard and a progressive movement swept the nation.  In some states, they chose to give the people the initiative, where the people could sponsor their own bills.  Other states wen with the referendum, where the people could vote down maleficent bills, such as they recently did in the Great State of Ohio.  In Wisconsin, the recall was the tool that was given to the people.

Sadly, the people became lax in their diligence and the corporate forces quietly amassed their powers again, diminishing the power of the unions a little bit at a time and getting laws which favored them over the people greatly, using a diabolical device known to us as ALEC to help get the job done.

As Professor Fallone spoke, and as I mulled it over, the stunning repeat of history right here in Wisconsin first stunned me and then filled me with rage.

From day one, even before he was sworn into office, Scott Walker was implementing his agenda to make Wisconsin an corporate state - or an oligarchy if you will.

Before he took office, he was using whatever influence Walker had to make sure that the unions' last ditch effort to get a contract renewed failed.  The fact that former State Senator Jeff Plale, who sabotaged the contracts in one of his last acts as a legislator, was immediately rewarded with a comfy political appointment in the Walker administration.

Shortly after taking office, Walker and his cohorts started on their mission by giving all sorts of tax breaks to big businesses.  This, of course, turned the surplus he had inherited and turned it into an immediate deficit.  To pull the state out of the deficit, which he had artificially constructed, he "balanced" the budget on the backs of the workers, the poor, the elderly and the the disabled.

On Groundhog's Day of last year, which was more like Weasel's Day, Walker got another bill he wanted, allowing him to fill in a wetland to build a store for Bass Pro Shop.  But when they learned what he did, they refused to move into it, pointing out their conservationist values.

Throughout the rest of the year, Walker continued his assault on Wisconsin and Wisconsinites.  His cuts to SeniorCare, BadgerCare and Family Care weren't because of a budget deficit, it was to be able to give that money to his corporate buddies.

The same goes for Walker's attack on our children's futures by gutting the schools and his destroying all the rights that women have fought for decades to gain and keep.

But never has Walker's effort to corporatize the state has really been laid bare in the past few weeks.

Walker and his minions wish to take away the local control of the Milwaukee Area Technical College.  Instead of having local leaders, he wants to give control to a private company officers and business people.

There is also the unconscionable mining bill that Walker is trying to ram through now.  The thing is, not one state Republican wrote the damnable thing.  It was written by the mining company.

Walker just signed the law that allows a free-for-all against our wetlands.  But did you notice where he signed it?  Right in front of the people that paid him to do it (emphasis mine):

Gov. Scott Walker signed a contentious bill Wednesday that helps developers win wetland construction permits, achieving one of Republican lawmakers' key goals for this legislative session. 
Walker signed the measure to a standing ovation at a Wisconsin Realtors Association meeting in Madison. The governor said the bill balances economic growth and wetland preservation.
These are just a few examples out of the scores of misdeeds that the Republicans have rammed through in the past year, all of which have the incriminating fingerprints of ALEC, the Koch Brothers, the Bradley Foundation, and other sects of the Church of the Almighty Dollar.

All of this goes to show that if Scott Walker is unhappy about being on the verge of being recalled, he can't blame it on "big union bosses" or even the unions in general.  He also can't blame the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the teachers or any other group.

The only person to blame for Walker's recall is Walker himself.  Well, Walker and his poor studying habits.  Perhaps if he had actually applied himself at Marquette, instead of trying to take the weaselly way that he did, he'd have known Wisconsin's history.

But because he didn't know history, we are all doomed to repeat it.

10 comments:

  1. Nice piece, capper! Thanks

    I would add that Montana put a state law into effect during the Progressive Era to prevent its state legislators from being bought and paid by corporations, namely special interests from the mining industry. After 100 years on the books, this state statute is now challenged by Citizen United ruling.

    Big money presents challenges to our self-determination and public interests. A revival of Progressive policy is the prescribed treatment for our current ailments. This may not be the battle which we chose, yet the people must prevail to move us forward!

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  2. I shouldn't be cynical. But I can't help but wonder whether Walker isn't also paying off his Realtor Assoc patrons in his move to close down the massive Ethan Allen juvenile corrections property in the heart of Waukesha lake country.

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    1. That wouldn't surprise me one bit. He tried to do the same thing with the House of Corrections when he was county executive.

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  3. Its an excellent strategy to make this about corporate influence and demonize him that way instead of trying to tell the people that his reforms arent helping Wisconsin, or that what he did to government workers was "unfair". The irony is that he will be using donations from corporations to convince the people he is representing the taxpayers and not the unions for a change.
    I will ask you this, how do you expect to attract jobs to the state if you keep looking at corporations as "evil" while taxing them and regulating them until they leave?

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    1. "The irony is that he will be using donations from corporations to convince the people he is representing the taxpayers and not the unions for a change."

      Operative phrase is "to convince":
      Meaning not "actually" represent the taxpayers

      RE: your question: the empirical evidence states: definitely not the Walker method!

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  4. Corporations are only evil when they seek to take over the political sphere which properly belongs to citizens. That's what we're saying.

    Corporations have a role to play in our economy but they must not usurp other roles.

    In Wisconsin, the following rules were orginally applied to corporations:



    Corporations were required to have a clear purpose, to be fulfilled but not exceeded.2
    Corporations’ licenses to do business were revocable by the state legis- lature if they exceeded or did not fulfill their chartered purpose(s).3
    The state legislature could revoke a corporation’s charter if it misbehaved.4
    The act of incorporation did not relieve corporate management or stockholders/owners of responsibility or liability for corporate acts.5
    As a matter of course, corporation officers, directors, or agents couldn’t break the law and avoid punishment by claiming they were “just doing their job” when committing crimes but instead could be held criminally liable for violating the law.6
    State (not federal) courts heard cases where corporations or their agents were accused of breaking the law or harming the public.7
    Directors of the corporation were required to come from among stockholders.8
    Corporations had to have their headquarters and meetings in the state where their principal place of business was located.9
    Corporation charters were granted for a specific period of time, such as twenty or thirty years (instead of being granted “in perpetuity,” as is now the practice).10
    Corporations were prohibited from owning stock in other corporations, to prevent them from extending their power inappropriately.11
    Corporations’ real estate holdings were limited to what was necessary to carry out their specific purpose(s).12
    Corporations were prohibited from making any political contributions, direct or indirect.13
    Corporations were prohibited from making charitable or civic donations outside of their specific purposes.14
    State legislatures could set the rates that some monopoly corporations could charge for their products or services.15

    All corporation records and documents were open to the legislature or the state attorney general.16

    (source: http://www.truthout.org/unequal-protection-early-role-corporations-america/1303765294)

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    1. Agreed, we need to safeguard the political system from being influenced by corporate interests when they arent in the same interest as the publics. But then it can also be said that when a union can influence elections to the point where they get there own politicians elected and the taxpayers are no longer at the bargaining table they need to be regulated too.

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  5. On a hopeful note, I went to get my hair done today, and the 22 year old who cuts my hair told me she registered to vote in her rural county. She didn't say which side she was on, but she said, "When you see how what they do really affects each one of us, you realize you have to vote."

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  6. In balancing out union influence and corporate influence I would only say that when unions (if this can even be proven, here in WI anyway) are able to get 'their guy/gal' elected, it helps out the middle class. When corporations get their guys elected, it helps out the wealthy. That's what made me laugh about the Affordable Care Act with Obama; even if you could make the point that he 'rammed it through', the result is that millions of people will get health care as a result. Scott Walker ramming things through has killed our economy, hurt our schools .......

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  7. If Falk is elected. Would you say she is in the pocket of the unions? If your answer is no your just not honest. And sure she will help the middle class. As long as they are in apublic union, if not, you will pay more to support the added benefits for the few.
    Obamacare is designed to put private insurers out of business resulting in complete government control if healthcare. If you think that helps anyone in the middle class then you need more friends north of the border.

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