Are state
GOP "breaks" with parts of Walker's agenda the result of a change of heart and ideology (a break from the wealthy rule of plutocracy), or are they a calculated move (ask for a
whole lot more, so merely a
lot more doesn't seem so bad), or are such moves a response because Republicans are scared from the real
threat of losing recall elections?
An unexpected $
636 million windfall from tax revenue has helped shed more light on the true motives of the GOP.
We can rule out the first, it's no change of heart--the entire Republican legislature sided with Walker with no reservations for virtually the last few months. Given the chance to use the $636 million to reduce the cuts, Walker and his legislators immediately said (and I'm paraphrasing here), "
Not gonna happen."
How about the second option? Remember not too long ago when oil companies jacked gas prices way past $3, so all of the sudden, $2.50 didn't seem so bad? Maybe Walker asked for these cuts (such as SeniorCare, BadgerCare, education, recycling, farmland preservation, local governments, mass transit, for example), so when he'd have his loyal legislative minions request some restorations, they assumed people would say, "Thank goodness they restored
that...Maybe they're not so bad, after all, those Republicans, hey?"
But it's obviously disingenuous.
The Walker regime can pass--and has shown it
will pass--whatever law it wants, no matter what the public says (witness
100,000 people protesting at the capitol against "budget repair," and the
illegal--or at least unethical--way it was pushed through the Assembly). Walker and his pals have shown time and again they don't give a crap about
anything except
appeasing big business and dismantling the
Democrat base (witness
Voter ID and
union-busting).
So, that leaves us with door number three. Successful
recall elections are a very real possibility--ones that could turn the Senate and eventually turn
out the Governor. So, now, out of nowhere, Republicans say the $636 million should be used to
reduce some cuts, even in--you've gotta be kidding me--education, the institution they've virtually accused of sucking the state taxpayers dry (witness Fond du Lac's recall-bound Senator Randy Hopper now
pleading for restoring education funds). Somewhere, one of the Republican think tank (a very shallow tank, to be sure) said, "Um, you know what? If we
all get voted out of office, those dirty scheming Democrats are going to cheat by trying to change the rules we set up. Maybe we should throw them a bone to get them off our tails."
And that bone right now is in the form of SeniorCare and recycling, among others. Although I am very happy these cuts look as though they will be reduced, I, for one, (and now one of a not-so-silent majority) am going to do whatever I can to make sure we stay on their tails until democracy, and not plutocracy, once again governs our state.