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I've Been Scared to Say This, But
In yesterday's PubliCola ThinkTank—where we've got an exclusive batch of hand-picked commenters weighing in on guest op/eds (yesterday's guest op/eds were from Wisconsin's Republican senate majority leader Sen. Scott Fitzgerald and Wisconsin union leader Dian Palmer)—one of our commenters said something I've been thinking, but have been wary of saying out loud.
[pullquote]Sure, it'd be great if a few senators were recalled for stripping workers of bargaining rights. But, if the recall was centered around, say, legislators who raised some taxes instead of cutting $5.2 billion of programs, I wouldn't be very happy.[/pullquote]
April Putney, a savvy environmental lobbyist in Olympia, responded to Dian Palmer's drum-beating editorial with a dose of skepticism that lefties aren't supposed to have about the tens of thousands who showed up in Madison to protest:
But what about the recall effort, you ask. Putney had some insight there too, putting the snap-judgment-populist-vote mentality in a frightening context; our own:
Meanwhile, ThinkTank Tuesday continues today as another member of our ThinkTank, Toby Crittenden from Washington Bus, weighed in with his first comments this morning.
[pullquote]Sure, it'd be great if a few senators were recalled for stripping workers of bargaining rights. But, if the recall was centered around, say, legislators who raised some taxes instead of cutting $5.2 billion of programs, I wouldn't be very happy.[/pullquote]
April Putney, a savvy environmental lobbyist in Olympia, responded to Dian Palmer's drum-beating editorial with a dose of skepticism that lefties aren't supposed to have about the tens of thousands who showed up in Madison to protest:
I find myself blown away by Ms Palmer's belief that we (not Governor Walker) are winning this new national debate on the future of the middle class. Yes hundreds of thousands of Americans have taken to the streets and Capitols, but I haven't seen anything actually result from those protests yet. Budgets are still being introduced that cripple core health, education and environmental programs and bills to reform tax structures and tax the rich are still largely being ignored.
But what about the recall effort, you ask. Putney had some insight there too, putting the snap-judgment-populist-vote mentality in a frightening context; our own:
The recall effort is one upcoming opportunity we'll have to see whether Ms Palmer is right. And more than anything else happening in Wisconsin, I'm most interested in this -- to see if any senators will be recalled. But the thing is, I'm not sure an instant feedback loop is a actually good thing for our elected officials. Sure, it'd be great if a few senators were recalled for stripping workers of bargaining rights. But, if the recall was centered around say, legislators who raised some taxes instead of cutting $5.2 billion of programs, I wouldn't be very happy.
Meanwhile, ThinkTank Tuesday continues today as another member of our ThinkTank, Toby Crittenden from Washington Bus, weighed in with his first comments this morning.
