True story:
A friend walked by the house in early 2011 after Walker had dropped his Act 10 bomb on an unsuspecting citizenry, and asked, more or less in shock: "I wonder what they would have said if we had won and had just gone for everything?"
"They" being the right, talk radio, and the newly-invigorated Grand Old Party.
"But we'd never have done that," he said, addressing his own rhetorical question and dismissal of equivalencies. "We're too nice."
My friend had a public sector focus. By "everything" on the right, he meant wiping out public sector bargaining and power.
In retrospect, his definition of "everything" turned out to be oh-so-narrow.
For the record, here's an off-the-top-of-my-head accounting of the "everything" that the Walker and the right went after Act 10, including all the fresh deplorables wrapped up in Foxconn Folly.
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'Right to work,' passed. Prevailing wage rate on state and road projects killed. $7.25 minimum wage hardened. Food stamp eligibility reduced, food stamp drug-testing escalated, tax cuts for business expanded, tax cuts for high earners expanded, taxes for working poor increased in two budgets.
Wetland fillings, stream bank development, lake bed development (Foxconn) encouraged by Walker's :"chamber of commerce mentality" WI DNR. Enbridge tar sand pipeline capacity expanded w/out substantial environmental review, solar installations and wind turbines discouraged or obstructed. Hybrid and electric vehicle fees boosted. Vastly expanded sand mining, Gtac iron mine, more sulfide-rock/cyanide-aided mining, proposed North 40 mine along Menominee River all pushed over local or Native American sovereign nation objections.
Local home rule authority over collective bargaining, public employee wages, environmental protection, taxing levels, transit extensions, voting hours, streetcar/sidewalk/bike path programs and other local powers and initiatives blocked, barred or defunded.
Climate change & DNR science positions deleted. Regulated businesses, even with fewer inspections, encouraged to write their own operating permit conditions. CAFO size limits overturned and oversight rolled back, contaminated well water tolerated, groundwater for big users privatized, permanently. Clear Power Act/air fought. Multiple US EPA clean water policies slowed, fought. State phosphorous rule implementation weakened by 25 years.
Federal Amtrak funding turned back. Broadband funding turned back. Medicaid funding turned back. Voter ID implemented. Gerrymandering drafted in secret. Planned Parenthood defunded. Public school funding slashed, private school funding boosted, UW funding slashed, faculty hours Big Brothered, UW 'research' turned right.
Judicial Commission and Government Accountability Board alters, watered down or stuffed. State Supreme Court recusal rule rewritten by donors to serve donors. State Supreme Court turned right, State Supreme Court Chief Justiceship turned right.
State corporate lending, under Walker chairmanship (WEDC), corrupted. State 2017-'19 budget repeatedly delayed & amended in secret, budget flexibility, even solvency imperiled for 25 years (Foxconn), and turned into campaign re-election tool (Foxconn, Walker).
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As I said, it's an incomplete list. Commenters will add more. But that's what going "for everything" is doing to Wisconsin, and why it will take forever, if ever, to turn things around here.
A friend walked by the house in early 2011 after Walker had dropped his Act 10 bomb on an unsuspecting citizenry, and asked, more or less in shock: "I wonder what they would have said if we had won and had just gone for everything?"
"They" being the right, talk radio, and the newly-invigorated Grand Old Party.
"But we'd never have done that," he said, addressing his own rhetorical question and dismissal of equivalencies. "We're too nice."
My friend had a public sector focus. By "everything" on the right, he meant wiping out public sector bargaining and power.
In retrospect, his definition of "everything" turned out to be oh-so-narrow.
For the record, here's an off-the-top-of-my-head accounting of the "everything" that the Walker and the right went after Act 10, including all the fresh deplorables wrapped up in Foxconn Folly.
--------------
'Right to work,' passed. Prevailing wage rate on state and road projects killed. $7.25 minimum wage hardened. Food stamp eligibility reduced, food stamp drug-testing escalated, tax cuts for business expanded, tax cuts for high earners expanded, taxes for working poor increased in two budgets.
Wetland fillings, stream bank development, lake bed development (Foxconn) encouraged by Walker's :"chamber of commerce mentality" WI DNR. Enbridge tar sand pipeline capacity expanded w/out substantial environmental review, solar installations and wind turbines discouraged or obstructed. Hybrid and electric vehicle fees boosted. Vastly expanded sand mining, Gtac iron mine, more sulfide-rock/cyanide-aided mining, proposed North 40 mine along Menominee River all pushed over local or Native American sovereign nation objections.
Local home rule authority over collective bargaining, public employee wages, environmental protection, taxing levels, transit extensions, voting hours, streetcar/sidewalk/bike path programs and other local powers and initiatives blocked, barred or defunded.
Climate change & DNR science positions deleted. Regulated businesses, even with fewer inspections, encouraged to write their own operating permit conditions. CAFO size limits overturned and oversight rolled back, contaminated well water tolerated, groundwater for big users privatized, permanently. Clear Power Act/air fought. Multiple US EPA clean water policies slowed, fought. State phosphorous rule implementation weakened by 25 years.
Federal Amtrak funding turned back. Broadband funding turned back. Medicaid funding turned back. Voter ID implemented. Gerrymandering drafted in secret. Planned Parenthood defunded. Public school funding slashed, private school funding boosted, UW funding slashed, faculty hours Big Brothered, UW 'research' turned right.
Judicial Commission and Government Accountability Board alters, watered down or stuffed. State Supreme Court recusal rule rewritten by donors to serve donors. State Supreme Court turned right, State Supreme Court Chief Justiceship turned right.
State corporate lending, under Walker chairmanship (WEDC), corrupted. State 2017-'19 budget repeatedly delayed & amended in secret, budget flexibility, even solvency imperiled for 25 years (Foxconn), and turned into campaign re-election tool (Foxconn, Walker).
-----------------
As I said, it's an incomplete list. Commenters will add more. But that's what going "for everything" is doing to Wisconsin, and why it will take forever, if ever, to turn things around here.