The guy on the left is Robin Vos, the Republican leader of
the state assembly. On the right is Scott Fitzgerald, the Republican leader of
the state senate. When Scott Walker was governor, the trio ran the state just like
Tony Soprano and his crew ran north Jersey. They made the rules, they drew the
maps, they ruled the roost.
Unlike the Soprano crime family, Vos and Fitzgerald were
duly elected by the voters. And I think it’s high time the voters in their
districts un-elected them.
Not too long ago, a UW Professor, Kathy Cramer, researched
and wrote a book about the huge political division in Wisconsin. She called the
book The Politics of Resentment. It’s full of actual interviews with Wisconsin
voters, and the opinions and comments of rural ‘sconnies reveal their
resentment of people who live in Madison and Milwaukee. Government bureaucrats
or librul college profs, all of them, or so the falsehood goes
.
Cramer’s research revealed that rural Wisconsinites by and
large believe a broad and false narrative that government workers are
incompetent, lazy, and undeserving of their paychecks. Scott Walker seized that
falsehood, amplified it, weaponized it, and won three statewide elections – two
for Governor, one beating a recall.
After the last election, when ‘sconnies voted for a change
of leadership, Vos and Fitzgerald immediately played that old
resentment/division song again the next morning, whining that if it wasn’t for
Madison and Milwaukee, their man Walker would have won.
If it wasn’t for Madison and Milwaukee, there wouldn’t BE a
Wisconsin, boys.
So Vos and Fitz cooked up a special session to try and take
away as much power as possible from the office of Governor of Wisconsin, and to
try once again – and fail once again – to disenfranchise as many ‘sconnie
voters as they could.
Now comes news that the Foxconn people are backing even
farther away from the promises they made about what they’re going to do for
Wisconsin. They haven’t come close to hitting their job creation promises and
have announced fundamental changes to their plans for the state. Respected
financial journals are now universally casting a gimlet eye on the Foxconn deal.
A few days ago, news broke that Foxconn isn’t going to build
hi-tech flat screen devices in Wisconsin, and instead of a manufacturing facility,
they’re thinking about a “technology hub” or some sort of think-tank
campus-like development.
Gee, technology is a rapidly changing business? Who knew?
Hours after the grim announcement from Foxconn’s Taiwan
headquarters, Vos and Fitz were out with a statement saying the reason for this
retrenchment is the election of our new governor. Tony Evers’ election has
brought economic uncertainty to the state, say Vos and Fitz, and that’s their
reason why the Foxconn deal is on the verge of becoming the biggest taxpayer
swindle in American history.
Moments after Vos and Fitz released their statement blaming
Tony Evers, the politics of division/resentment kicked in, and Walker loyalists
were Tweeting and re-Tweeting the blame on Evers, and posting snarky stuff on
Facebook.
Sooner or later – and I hope it’s sooner – the voters who
elect Vos and Fitz are going to tire of the constant resentment and division
preached by Vos, Fitz, and their ilk. They’ll look for and support a different
kind of politician, one whose stock-in-trade is not fear, hatred, and division.
We have to do better. We deserve better.
