Happy with One Party Rule, Voters Say Hell Yes!!

I just got off the phone with my conservative friend in Milwaukee, who couldn't hide his glee over seeing Sen. Alberta Darling retain her seat, all the while reminding me how happy the state is over the money saving changes instituted by Walker and the Republican legislature.

Take Republican Sen. Luther Olsen's comment after his slim win over Rep. Fred Clark:

Olsen: "If we don't maintain the majority then we have gridlock and we can't move things forward."

A familiar refrain? Get used to it, one party rule is going to be framed as the preferred government of choice.

Back to the austere Walker agenda. I told my born again, gun toting conservative friend that the savings were short term. But that just confused him.

To him the Republicans won. That's all that mattered. He told me the recall elections should have never happened anyway, since it was all based on just one vote (collective bargaining), and that most other states don't allow recalls. It wasn't based on one vote I told him, but the overall forced makeover of our state government. And if the people wanted to hold their politicians accountable, who's to prevent them from recalling them. It's a bit scary to be told by these supposed "defenders of the Constitution" that it's wrong to protest, and recalls should never happen.

But this is the mindset of conservatives. And it doesn't help that Democrats are miserable at messaging. People in Wisconsin will never be convinced there's big trouble ahead economically, or that they've seen this movie before. But to that end, we deserve what we're getting from our one party rulers.

The Great Recession has faded from their memories on purpose. They tell us we're now spending more than we can afford. But there's a reason for that; jobs haven't been created to keep up or make up for the recessionary losses, and tax revenues have not improved as a result. We lost a major part of our income. Do we lower our standard of living and except the worst, or seek new sources of revenue to maintain or improve our quality of life.

If you're a Republican, you settle for less in the name of...freedom, yea, that's the ticket. While conservatives tell us families would cut back on spending, do with less and tough it out, the families I know would try to increase their incomes by seeking extra work. That's how a real American family survives.

Republicans can now continue their agenda, unopposed. My friend will be in great spirits. What made us Wisconsin; our higher taxes, better schools, and quality of life, has been replaced with a one size fits all austere model like those states to our south.

But we'll see. The fact that unemployment has increased dramatically since Scott Walker became governor, is only one early red flag to consider. We'll soon see how the private sector spends our taxpayer dollars on schools and road maintenance. Would it surprise you to know that that these privateers are already demanding increased payouts?

As we lop off and privatize parts of our government, once accountable to the people, we'll see how folks deal with the closed door policies of corporate America in addressing their grievances. Of course by then, it'll be too late.