The rethuglicans are gloating over their recent rise to power, riding the coat tails of public opinion that the government has been spending money like a drunken sailor and promising to rescue us with their crisis management style brought about by fear and hate. Ironically, the recent economic crash has been far more gentle here in our state, mainly because unemployment never spiked to the levels of other states and the excesses of the multimillionaires did not have as much traction here as they did elsewhere. Although we have one or two cities that are in dire straights, these are the result of long-term structural changes that have isolated whole communities from sources of capital, strangled the commercial sector and foisted poverty on the vast majority of the population. Nothing that the current crop of rich white males is relying on to "save our state" will help those people. In fact their gerrymandering (redrawing district lines to favor their candidates) has led to a situation in which hundreds of thousands of people will remain disenfranchised, unable to vote for a state senator for six years. As you might guess, the vast majority of these people are poor, of color and their neighborhoods are probably the most in need of enlightened vision, not the policies of old that created the ghettos in which they are forced to survive, of any in the state. The cities most reliant on heavy industry really took it on the chin and will continue to have growing pains as we shift into a new, sustainable society.
Wisconsin, after two years of rule by Governor Scott Walker (R) ranks forty-seventh(47th) out of fifty states in job creation. Up until a couple months ago, the ranking was dead last. Unemployment is terminally over ten percent in the largest city in our state, but his mega-bail outs for his corporate sponsors are directed to the smallest towns, where the locals still feel that they are under threat. Under threat of what, I cannot understand. The only explanation for this fear, that I can fathom, is that the rich white males are hoping the locals in these areas are as bigoted as the rethuglicans hope they are. These folks, "new rethuglicans" posit, for the most part, the people they represent are like them, accustomed to male-dominated lily-white view of the world that was the rule throughout the last century. This is the very world-view that they see the world from and it is like a containment vessel that thrives on prejudicial language as well as that nasty old Calvinist belief that only good people are living to god's plan, proven to them through economic prowess and refined taste. The dark side cuts with unsavory vehemence for those who are obviously morally suspect, simply because of their poverty and what it reflects about their "goodness". These beliefs have power over their perception. It is because of their "moral values" that we have the most to fear. Even though state wide, we have some of the lowest unemployment in the nation, the drum beat of lies that we get from our political "leaders" is that we need to create jobs in the private sector at all costs. "We have fallen and we can't get up.", without the help of giant corporations, seems to be their watch word. This in a state with fiercely independent voters and citizens that have seen the historical record of wealth much more drastically than many other states. We see daily, the artifacts of pollution, rape of Mother Earth, the results of socialist programs like the WPA and CCC. We can attest to the value of our education and the blessings of community support and interaction. After the first oppressors had their way with our state, lying, cheating and despoiling the reations between our government and the people, huge cash reserves were removed at great cost to Wisconsin's original residents. The toxic legacy of mining and the loss of soil that came with early "development" was the result of well-heeled interests running over the public for profit. The same relationships of exploitation and extraction has been applied to nearly everything of value in our state. It is just as well, there can be no way found of capitalizing on the rich family and community that we feel in our hearts, for if there were, that too would have been extracted by the rich fiends. We have more than enough examples of the way the power brokers exploit whatever they can for profit. Nary a tree was left after the lumber boom and after 90% of our forest had been decimated, The Peshtigo Fire, fed by tinder dry slash, ravaged the most populated part of our state. Their was a "land boom" here, that was more devastating than the recent housing market crash. It even drained more fortune than the recent financial market crash. Nearly every citizen in our state lost their entire life's work to fund the lavish lifestyles of a few souls. Again, wealthy interests sold off land with a fervor that had been unrivaled in human history. They extracted money from the burgeoning population on the promise that the newly deforested landscape was well-suited for wheat production.
Residents put their back into their living back then as they do now. One man, with an ox, could clear about an acre of stumps each year, but by the time they discovered that the wheat harvest would crash after about three years of production, they were left with nothing but land that was best suited for forest and no way to restore the ecosystem. All that could live on the destitute soil was grass. At the time, caring for livestock was "women's work". It took a massive swallowing of pride to make Wisconsin the dairy state, but our white ancestors have become adept at swallowing their pride in service to the ultra-wealthy.
Milwaukee, our largest city used to be a hotbed of socialist ideology. We raised a crop of politicians in the last century that saw first-hand the depraved greed that wealthy men use to guide "development" in our state. Hard-working men and women have subsidized the wealth of people far away, supported their lavish lifestyles, and suffered at the hands of these callous thugs who, for too long, have taken their cut for protection, for the privilege of dealing with them or for their luxuries and your burden. The socialist revolution was on. Many continue to call Wisconsin home because of the long history of social activism, environmental protection and the value we place on education, family and service. From the Co-ops of rural communities to the pride we have in our schools, we have proof positive that without commitment to our communities, the rich will bleed us all dry.
There are many among us, and we hope that we are in the majority, who can smell a fish and tell if it is bad, who can see a liar and identify them and to suss out who is acting like they care so they can cheat us in the end.
Wisconsin, after two years of rule by Governor Scott Walker (R) ranks forty-seventh(47th) out of fifty states in job creation. Up until a couple months ago, the ranking was dead last. Unemployment is terminally over ten percent in the largest city in our state, but his mega-bail outs for his corporate sponsors are directed to the smallest towns, where the locals still feel that they are under threat. Under threat of what, I cannot understand. The only explanation for this fear, that I can fathom, is that the rich white males are hoping the locals in these areas are as bigoted as the rethuglicans hope they are. These folks, "new rethuglicans" posit, for the most part, the people they represent are like them, accustomed to male-dominated lily-white view of the world that was the rule throughout the last century. This is the very world-view that they see the world from and it is like a containment vessel that thrives on prejudicial language as well as that nasty old Calvinist belief that only good people are living to god's plan, proven to them through economic prowess and refined taste. The dark side cuts with unsavory vehemence for those who are obviously morally suspect, simply because of their poverty and what it reflects about their "goodness". These beliefs have power over their perception. It is because of their "moral values" that we have the most to fear. Even though state wide, we have some of the lowest unemployment in the nation, the drum beat of lies that we get from our political "leaders" is that we need to create jobs in the private sector at all costs. "We have fallen and we can't get up.", without the help of giant corporations, seems to be their watch word. This in a state with fiercely independent voters and citizens that have seen the historical record of wealth much more drastically than many other states. We see daily, the artifacts of pollution, rape of Mother Earth, the results of socialist programs like the WPA and CCC. We can attest to the value of our education and the blessings of community support and interaction. After the first oppressors had their way with our state, lying, cheating and despoiling the reations between our government and the people, huge cash reserves were removed at great cost to Wisconsin's original residents. The toxic legacy of mining and the loss of soil that came with early "development" was the result of well-heeled interests running over the public for profit. The same relationships of exploitation and extraction has been applied to nearly everything of value in our state. It is just as well, there can be no way found of capitalizing on the rich family and community that we feel in our hearts, for if there were, that too would have been extracted by the rich fiends. We have more than enough examples of the way the power brokers exploit whatever they can for profit. Nary a tree was left after the lumber boom and after 90% of our forest had been decimated, The Peshtigo Fire, fed by tinder dry slash, ravaged the most populated part of our state. Their was a "land boom" here, that was more devastating than the recent housing market crash. It even drained more fortune than the recent financial market crash. Nearly every citizen in our state lost their entire life's work to fund the lavish lifestyles of a few souls. Again, wealthy interests sold off land with a fervor that had been unrivaled in human history. They extracted money from the burgeoning population on the promise that the newly deforested landscape was well-suited for wheat production.
Residents put their back into their living back then as they do now. One man, with an ox, could clear about an acre of stumps each year, but by the time they discovered that the wheat harvest would crash after about three years of production, they were left with nothing but land that was best suited for forest and no way to restore the ecosystem. All that could live on the destitute soil was grass. At the time, caring for livestock was "women's work". It took a massive swallowing of pride to make Wisconsin the dairy state, but our white ancestors have become adept at swallowing their pride in service to the ultra-wealthy.
Milwaukee, our largest city used to be a hotbed of socialist ideology. We raised a crop of politicians in the last century that saw first-hand the depraved greed that wealthy men use to guide "development" in our state. Hard-working men and women have subsidized the wealth of people far away, supported their lavish lifestyles, and suffered at the hands of these callous thugs who, for too long, have taken their cut for protection, for the privilege of dealing with them or for their luxuries and your burden. The socialist revolution was on. Many continue to call Wisconsin home because of the long history of social activism, environmental protection and the value we place on education, family and service. From the Co-ops of rural communities to the pride we have in our schools, we have proof positive that without commitment to our communities, the rich will bleed us all dry.
There are many among us, and we hope that we are in the majority, who can smell a fish and tell if it is bad, who can see a liar and identify them and to suss out who is acting like they care so they can cheat us in the end.
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