Government
GET OUT AND VOTE
George Carlin said, "If you don't vote, you lose the right to complain." I don't know if that's true, but I'd rather not find out. I know that voting is the one thing I can do, and as difficult as Wisconsin is trying to make it to vote, the more I'm determined to exercise my one most basic rights. Make sure you're registered! People with disabilities are protected and can have friends or family members drop off their ballots. I know people who work on elections, they are my friends and neighbors. They work hard to make sure elections are fair and secure. Attacks on them ...
ACT 134
To Marathon County Board of Supervisors:
I am writing in support of the resolution, titled: RESOLUTION TO CALL FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION TO
PROTECT MARATHON COUNTY FROM THE IMPACTS OF METALLIC SULFIDE EXPLORATION AND MINING.
I currently live in Madison, Wisconsin and am a Political Scientist, specializing in federalism and
intergovernmental relationships. But I spent much of my early life living in Colby, Wisconsin in Marathon
County and still have extended family living all around the county. I know many farmers and small
business owners who live in the area around ...
Wisconsin Candidates for Assembly
Voting is like hiring an employee. Voters are hiring a representative to take care of public business for all of us. Employers typically look at education, work history, knowledge and skills to assess the person's ability to do the job. With some jobs there are formal certifications or skills assessment tests that can help.
Unfortunately, with elected officials there are no formal qualifications, certifications, or civil service tests to weed out the incompetent. In Wisconsin you can't cut hair or sell real estate without training and a certification. But any nincompoop ...
Lifelong Republicans: Let’s return to Grand Old Party
This letter is intended for lifelong Republicans who dislike what the party has become under Trump. If you still support conservation, local control, small government, fiscal responsibility, and using bipartisanship and compromise to help identify and solve problems please reconsider your vote.
Election integrity is under fire, not from nonexistent “voter fraud”, but from gerrymandering and laws which deny legitimate voters access to ballots and the polls. Republicans are not willing to stop there. Republican states seem intent on refusing to recognize popular ...
Comparing the U.S. Senate Candidates on Retirement Issues
Wisconsin and the nation is facing a retirement security crisis. Many people will have inadequate income for a secure retirement. Over 400,000 seniors in Wisconsin will be living in poverty by 2030. As a result, Wisconsin will need to spend an additional $3.5 billion on public assistance programs.
Why is this happening? There are many reasons. Low pay jobs don't allow saving for retirement. One million people have no retirement program at work. Individual savings plans, like 401Ks and IRAs, don't work well for many people. They have high management fees, ...
Mr. Ausman Goes to Washington
Richard Ausman is running for Congress. He is the Democratic candidate for the 7th Congressional district in northwestern Wisconsin. He is not a politician. He has never run for office before. Like the James Stewart character in “Mr Smith Goes to Washington,” Mr. Ausman is a “common man” hoping to go to Washington and change things.
He says. “It is time to stop playing the blame game and cool the radical rhetoric that divides us as a people. It is time to move back towards a more traditional moderate center of the road pro-American approach where we are united ...
God Isn’t a Republican and Republicans Are Not Godly
“And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah. This is what the Lord Almighty said, 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner, or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.” Zechariah 7:8-10
It is unfathomable to me that fundamentalist Christians so ardently support the Republican party. Few Republican politicians exhibit any of the “fruits of the spirit” that supposedly identify true Christians. Nor does the Republican agenda reflect any Christian teachings.
Both ...
The Prophetic Words of Plutarch
“The abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and money began to play an important part in determining elections. Later on, this process of corruption spread to the law courts. And then to the army, and finally the Republic was subjected to the rule of emperors.” “An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.” - - Plutarch
When first reading this quote, I thought - “This person must be an American describing the current state of our nation!” But Plutarch was not an American. He was a Greek philosopher/historian ...
Politics Matter
It is easy to complain about politics. It is easy to take the apathetic road and believe the politicians are all bought, your vote doesn't count, money talks, and there is nothing you can do to change the world.
You may think politics is dirty and you don't want to get involved. But politics is the way we organize and run our society. Whether you like it or not, politics will happen to you whether you are involved or not. There is a saying, “If you are not at the table you may be on the menu.” So we all need to to participate in some way – voting, learning about ...
Social Security
Established in 1935 under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), social security has kept millions of retired and disabled Americans out of abject poverty. But we hear a repeating refrain from politicians – currently Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson – that the program is “going broke” and needs “reform.” History says otherwise.
Luther Gulick was an aid to FDR and an expert in public administration working for the Treasury Department. The following conversation from the Social Security historical archives took place between Gulick and FDR in 1941:
“In ...