Friday, October 21, 2011

Republican Endgame

You have to wonder what the Republican endgame is. We are in the middle of special jobs sessions at both the State and Federal level and as far as I can tel they have done nothing to create jobs but they have done much to increase unemployment and further a social agenda. In Wisconsin there is a proposal that would criminalize stem cell research, there goes hundreds of jobs at UW Madison alone. In Wisconsin they passed a bill that would allow students test performance to be used to determine whether public school teachers are fired. This after much research indicates that many times it is not the teacher but the child. Private school teachers are exempt, although in the areas of the state with private school choice they are receiving taxpayer money. In Wisconsin the number one job creator is the UW system. What has the legislature done for them. They increased the budget cuts to $310 million dollars with another possible $50 million if we don't create more jobs, ironic. Instead of trying to help the UW help the state we had a hearing on what criteria is used to admit students. We should have had a hearing on what we can do to help students stay in school. At the federal level they decided to break-up the President's job package, so last night they voted on spending $45 million dollars to help states meet salary obligations for teachers, police, and firefighters. Every Republican voted no. I suppose that the argument is that they should take less money. The reality is that they have taken less and there have been layoffs. Is the goal to take the country back to the late 18th century when you contracted with a private company for fire protection? Remember the Chicago fire, that was the end of that practice. And what about police? I can agree that less police is a good thing but when there is real crime you want some police. Are we going to try a 18th century solution and privatize the force. Pay them like security guards and hope that with enough open and concealed weapons around you don't have to worry about crime. I really don't see how any of this is going to advance the needs of the nation not to mention promoting the general welfare.

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