Progressive Thinking

MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker’s attack on the Wisconsin Idea did not end with his botched attempt to re-write the University of Wisconsin’s mission statement. The substance of the attack is ongoing in his state budget.

The Wisconsin Idea is as simple as it is compelling. The fundamental rationale for our public universities is the on-going “search for truth” which elevates the lives of students to higher purposes than mere money getting and extends “knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of the campus” in order to “improve the human condition.”

The Wisconsin Idea as it developed over 100 years was not mere lofty language. The words were matched by financial commitments decade after decade which, built our public education system brick by brick. Now Walker, with his slashing education cuts, is undercutting these investments

This commitment to learning as a gateway to social progress, and the fundamental belief that it is within our power to bridge the gap between the world as it is and the world as it can be, motivated generations of Wisconsinites much poorer than ourselves. Year after year farmers and shopkeepers and industrial workers put their nickels and dimes together to invest heavily in building our world class university system, our highly rated public schools, and our renowned technical colleges.

The idea that we don’t have the money is absurd. We are a far richer state than we were 100 years ago and even 50 years ago. Walker wants us to think we live in an age of limits, but they are self imposed. In Walker’s narrow ideology giving large tax giveaways to large corporations with no strings attached and turning down millions of dollars of federal health care money are more important than continuing our generational commitment to education.

This attack on the Wisconsin Idea goes beyond funding. Walker’s scheme to spin off our universities, stripping public accountability from a system the people of Wisconsin built together, cuts the UW system off from its public charge. At its core, the Wisconsin Idea is about connecting our universities to the public and its needs, applying cutting-edge knowledge to our social and economic problems to advance opportunity and better society.

Walker’s brand of conservatism is not interested in such knowledge. In Walker’s doublespeak, forcing people off health coverage is innovation, wind farms are a greater threat to human health than fossil fuels, slashing money for education is reform, the failed voucher school experiment is a success, dismal job creation numbers are a comeback, $7.25 an hour is a “living wage,” gutting unions will raises wages, and a budget deficit is a surplus. No wonder Walker wants to scuttle Wisconsin’s century-old “search for truth” and the application of knowledge “beyond the campus.”

The visionaries who framed the Wisconsin Idea, and the generations of average people who made it a reality, had great dreams for our future, and acted on those dreams. We should continue to follow in their footsteps.

Move comes less than a week after limiting travel reimbursement for veterans.

MADISON – A Democratic proposal to provide greater oversight and transparency of the state taxpayer costs associated with Gov. Walker’s national campaigning was rejected by Republicans on the Legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee along a party-line vote today. The proposal would have required quarterly reporting of taxpayer costs associated with Gov. Walker’s out-of-state travel.

The decision by Republicans to block this proposal and continue subsidizing the Governor’s campaign junkets comes less than a week after imposing a travel reimbursement limit for military veterans.

For Republicans to limit the travel of distinguished veterans and then turn around and give Gov. Walker a blank check to campaign on the state taxpayers’ dime highlights the grossly misplaced priorities in this budget. If Republicans have the money to continue subsidizing Gov. Walker’s international campaign junkets, then they should find a way to help military honor guards, disabled veterans and distinguished medal recipients attend state-sponsored events.

As Gov. Walker increasingly leaves the state in pursuit of his presidential ambitions, costs for his travel have increased drastically. His six day trip to Great Britain cost taxpayers over $138,000 or roughly $23,000 per day.

While Gov. Walker continues to jet around the country, families here in Wisconsin are left paying for his bills. With a $2.2 billion budget deficit, a lagging economy and a shrinking middle-class, it’s time for Republicans to re-evaluate their priorities. I hope that we can improve this budget and adopt the cost-effective, pro-growth initiatives being put forward by Democrats to strengthen our economy and lift up Wisconsin families.

One very important thing missing from the state budget debate, says Mike McCabe, founder of Blue Jean Nation.

ALTOONA, WI - When it comes to the future of higher education in Wisconsin, state lawmakers are stuck in a rut, thinking only about whether spending in this area should be cut a little or a lot and whether student tuition should be kept where it is (which is astronomically high) or be allowed to continue to spiral upward.

We should be talking about free college instead. The viability of the American Dream in the 21st Century depends on it.

Generations ago, Wisconsin was among the trailblazing states that built systems of universal, free public education all the way through high school. Few of the people who were paying for this creation had high school diplomas. Many were illiterate. Most were farmers, but they could see industrialization coming. They knew their children and grandchildren might not work the land as they did. They knew that chances were their kids and grandkids would be working in factories or offices. They knew future generations would need more education and different skills than they had in order to have a shot at the American Dream.

Today, we have to ask ourselves a question our lawmakers are not asking as they debate the future of education. Does a high school diploma alone provide a sure pathway to the American Dream? The answer is obvious. The answer is no. Education and training beyond high school has become a necessity.

So our challenge is simple. We have to do for future generations what past generations did for us. They were substantially poorer than we are, but they built – and paid for – a way for the American Dream to be attainable for us. We need to do the same for our kids and grandkids.

The Wisconsin HOPE Lab already has developed a detailed plan for a free college option. The state of Oregon is actively pursuing it.

Creating a pathway to the American Dream is one of Blue Jean Nation’sfive aims. Turning this aspiration into reality requires us to commit to extending the promise of free public education for everyone all the way through college.

How to do it, how soon it can be done, and how this critical investment will be made is what our elected representatives should be debating.

Senator Kathleen Vinehout writes about some of the myths that are circulating about the Wisconsin state budget. A popular myth is Governor Walker has spending under control, but did you know the state owes $600 million more than when Governor Doyle left office or that the 2015-17 state budget spends $4.76 billion more than the last?

MADISON - “I’m okay with the cuts,” the man wrote me. “It’s shameful to pass debt on to our children.” In the man’s message, he implies a common misconception about Wisconsin – there is no state debt.

Wisconsin owes a lot of money. The state budget proposes that we borrow even more money. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) reported in January that the state owed about $13.8 billion. This is slightly less than the previous year, but almost $600 million more than when Governor Doyle left office.

The conservative Tax Foundation reported in 2011 Wisconsin ranked 18th of 50 states in terms of the worst state debt per person ($4,013). In 2013, Wisconsin ranked 16th of 50 states ($4,044 per person). Wisconsin is headed the wrong direction in paying off the debt.

The Governor is proposing a great deal more borrowing in the new budget. Of greatest concern is the borrowing to pay for roads and bridges. The LFB estimates by the end of the coming budget almost a quarter of every dollar in transportation will be spent on debt payments.

Adding to future debt is the Governor’s proposal to build a stadium for the Bucks. The LFB estimates the interest alone on this proposal exceeds $400 million using the plan proposed by the Governor. Final payments are estimated to be in fiscal year 2046-47.

I’d say that’s passing debt on to our grandchildren.

Another common budget myth is the Governor paid all the debt bills coming due. To answer that myth – the Governor is not paying about $108 million in debt payments coming due this year.

In order to free up cash, governors of both political stripes did not make debt payments. Governors Doyle and McCallum did not make debt payments during downturns in the economy. The largest delayed debt payments were under Governor Walker in the 2011-13 legislative session in which over $550 million were delayed.

I imagine the reason the Governor delayed making debt payment this year was to free up cash to cover a deficit in the current budget; which brings us to another budget myth.

A popular myth is Governor Walker has spending under control. But spending in the current budget outpaced revenue.

In February of this year the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance analyzed three factors leading to an imbalance between revenue and spending.

“Tax cuts, the technical college aid jump, and soft tax collections led to revenues once again falling short of expenditures. The shortfall was $261 million last year and could grow to as large as $800 million this year, which would be the largest gap in over 20 years.”

These problems continue going forward. Using estimates released by the LFB last month, spending is estimated to outpace revenue in the next budget by over a billion in the first year and nearly $700 million in the second year.

The Legislature is required by the state Constitution to submit a balanced budget to the Governor. Therefore, when the budget passes in June, spending will be trimmed or revenues enhanced to deal with this imbalance.

Another common myth related to spending is that the Governor is spending less money in this new budget than in prior budgets.

The truth is the 2015-17 state budget spends $4.76 billion more than the last.

At $74.7 billion this budget is the largest in state history. That said, because of inflation, nearly every new budget is larger than the previous one.

But to say this budget is smaller than the last is false.

One reason the myth of a smaller budget exists is because some estimates of the size of the coming budget did not include all University of Wisconsin spending. Of course, to make an apples-to-apples comparison we need to include all the spending from the UW as we have in the past.

I hope this clears up a few of the common budget myths. If you want to learn more, please come to one of my budget town hall meetings. Check my website for dates, times and locations of upcoming town hall meetings

MADISON - American democracy is caught on the horns of a dilemma. Most Americans are feeling fed up with the Republicans and let down by the Democrats – with good reason – as both major parties are failing the country. Yet a third party isn’t the answer. Like it or not, America has a two-party system.

Ours was not set up as a parliamentary democracy, where competing factions can join forces and form coalition governments. We don’t have fusion voting, or instant runoff voting, or proportional representation, or any of the mechanisms that would allow third parties or independent candidates to successfully compete in our elections and hold power in our government.

This is why third-party or independent bids for office – whether it’s Ross Perot one time or Ralph Nader another – regularly lead to dead ends.

So how do we get regular people back in the driver’s seat of our government when both major parties are catering to a privileged few at the expense of everyone else, but our system is structured to enforce a two-party arrangement?

We have to start with two articles of faith. First, it hasn’t always been like it is now, and doesn’t have to be like this. Second, there is a way out of the trap we’re in.

We need to make the major parties – or at least one of them for starters – better. They won’t change unless forced. It’s like the basic law of physics . . . an object at rest will remain at rest, unless some force makes it move. A corrupt political establishment will stay corrupt and failing parties will keep failing us, unless we make them change their ways.

When past generations freed themselves from similar traps, they started by shedding old labels and fashioning themselves a new identity. They attached that newly minted brand to breathtakingly ambitious agendas. They were not bashful in the least about stating their aspirations for the future.  And then they effectively forced those aspirations down the throats of the parties. When the smoke cleared, there were not three parties or four or five. There were two. But the parties were transformed. They were reconnected to the masses.

Current conditions dictate that this must be done again.

Given how messed up politics is at the moment, we cannot in good conscience call ourselves Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives. One party is scary and the other is scared. Labels like liberal and conservative no longer mean what the dictionary says they mean. Now they are little more than the political equivalent of ethnic slurs. We deserve better and need something new.

We are commoners and we are politically homeless. The royals of our political system made us so.

We aim to make a household for the politically homeless and in so doing transform parties that are failing us. And we are pulling together to make it happen. With an organizing committee of citizens from all of Wisconsin’s eight congressional districts and 19 different counties, we just formed Blue Jean Nation.

Blue Jean Nation is not a party. It is a community, and a movement in the making. We are neither elephant nor ass, but recognize that our country has a two-party system and plan to work within that system to get the parties truly working for all of us and not just a favored few who are well connected politically.

Our end goal is to make common sense in government and concern for the common good far less uncommon. To reach that goal, we will work every day against political privilege.

We will do it from the ground up, with plain people leading the way, by the seat of our pants. There’s no waiting for political messiahs to come along.

When faced with economic and political threats eerily similar to today’s conditions, past generations straightened things out on more than one occasion. I refuse to believe there is something so different about us or wrong with us that renders us less capable of making change than those who came before us. In so many ways, we have more going for us now than they did then.

Political reboots have happened before. Another one is desperately needed.