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No longer content at sitting on the sidelines, election gains a voter
I have spent the last few weeks in full curmudgeon mode, grumbling to anyone who asked, about how ridiculous this whole recall thing seemed and how I wasn't going to participate in the process.
No voting for me, I said. I'm staying home.
Then I read a column this week written by Andy Tarnoff, who is too young to really be a curmudgeon, but he has potential.
He wrote about how he felt the way I had been feeling. It was stupid, he wrote, to have a recall election over policy differences.
I've been telling people that a recall should be reserved for a politician caught in a hotel room with marked dollar bills stuffed in his underwear and an underage kid in the bed. Now, that's recall material.
Then I began to look around Wisconsin. And I realized that I am really sad about the state of my state. And while I blame a lot of people, much of the blame falls squarely on the Boy Scout shoulders of Scott Walker.
What we have in Wisconsin now is a sense of hopelessness. It's an unhappy place with a future as bleak as my chance of ever winning a Pulitzer Prize.
And Scott Walker has created this climate.
Like right wing talk radio, he loves the combat of "us versus them." He wants there to be an enemy and he wants to fight the enemy. He doesn't want to find a way for us to live together. It's his way or the highway.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Wisconsin lost jobs last year. Then all of a sudden, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development comes up with numbers that show Wisconsin gained jobs last year.
Let's see, the Department of Workforce Development works for Walker. Walker is unhappy with those federal statistics. He's in a tough election. And all of a sudden these new numbers show up.
Does he think we just fell off he turnip truck or something?
That's one of the terrible problems we have. Walker has a gazillion dollars and he's running more ads than Geico. And they bear only a vague nodding acquaintance with reality.
I want a governor who gives it to us at least partially straight. Tell us that the state is in bad shape and that we've got problems. Tell us that in order to solve those problems we need to cooperate a little bit. Take those extremists and send them to the sideline, never to enter the game again.
The problem with Scott Walker is that his "Man The Ramparts" program cuts off half the population from participating in the quest for a great state.
He puts us in the corner. And, as Johnny says in Dirty Dancing, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."
I'm Baby and I'm not staying in the corner anymore. I'm voting.
Talkbacks
mikeb | May 17, 2012 at 7:09 p.m. (report)
As to the content of the article: Do you own a business Dave? I do, and as a CPA my clients all do. I'm missing all the hopelessness we have now that the State's budget seems to be in order. I know the reports by the Department of Workforce Development seem to be conveniently timed to coincide with this recall, but anyone who understands the first thing about employment knows these are the better numbers. Each employer (again, wouldn't expect you to know this) pays a quarterly unemployment tax to the State. On that report you must list the earnings of each employee you have. Therefore, the DWD knows exactly how many people are working in the State at a given time. The Federal number that comes out is a survey that is extrapolated over the wider population. Some times the number is good and sometimes it is flawed. If you don't believe me, ask onmilwaukee.com contributor Steve Jagler how good the economy is. He always seems to be touting it.
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mikeb | May 17, 2012 at 7:03 p.m. (report)
There's a shock. An onmilwaukee staffer voting against Scott Walker. Why not? Half of the columnists signed the recall petition. One potential positive of a Barrett win is we might actually get someone who wants to be the Mayor of Milwaukee.
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idgafkurt | May 17, 2012 at 7:01 p.m. (report)
Mr. Begels assessment of Walkers jobs numbers and Wisconsins hopelessness is completely misleading. Walker used the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages information provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics household survey to show a jobs gain (not numbers from the WI Dept of Workforce Development). The job losses previously reported were determined by the Bureaus Current Employment Statistics or established survey. The established survey is just that, a survey. It simply surveys 3-4% of the businesses in Wisconsin to draw its conclusion. The QCEW used by Walker gathers jobs information from 96% of state businesses. Therefore, as even the Journal Sentinel states, the census figures (used by Walker) are considered by economists the more reliable of the two. On top of this, Wisconsins unemployment claims dropped. Our tax revenue increased, we recently announced a $154 million surplus and we are in the top quarter in the nation in per capital income growth. I guess Im not seeing the hopelessness.
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BCZF | May 17, 2012 at 5:26 p.m. (report)
I love how people who insist on "showing the math" never "show the math".. Walker is a little Koch Bros funded troll..
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jjrakman | May 17, 2012 at 3:59 p.m. (report)
I'm glad that you've chosen to discount the Department of Workforce Development. I'm guessing that means you'll be discounting this latest tidbit as well? http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/151940925.html
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