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Why Wisconsin is the Battleground State
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| Contributor | Homegrown Democrat |
| Last Edited | Homegrown Democrat Mar 16, 2011 02:06am |
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| Category | Interview |
| Author | PAUL JAY |
| News Date | Wednesday, March 16, 2011 07:30:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | JAY: The question is: why Wisconsin? The Republicans in Wisconsin have really dug in here in a way that's polarized the situation to the maximum. Why are they doing it, just in terms of their short-term electoral fortunes, if they thought this was going to help them? It doesn't look like it's going to.
RUFF: I think they're informed by an understanding that many of us have that if they can break Wisconsin, if they can break collective bargaining in Wisconsin, if they can get away with assaulting all social sectors in Wisconsin, then they'll open the door for who knows what in the rest of the country. Folks have to understand that there's something here in Wisconsin known as the Wisconsin Idea that's a hundred years old. Wisconsin led the country in a whole range of political and social reform legislation dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, culminating in a raft of legislation that was passed in 1911 and in 1912, often referred to as [inaudible] progressivism.
JAY: What are some of the examples of that legislation?
RUFF: At a social-economic level, Wisconsin had the first workers compensation through legislation in the country. It eventually became the model for the New Deal--child labor laws, laws protecting the environment, laws protecting women in the workplace. Most significantly, there was what was called the clean government legislation, which meant what? Wisconsin had--was the first state in the union to have a recall vote, the recall and the referendum. That was incredibly progressive legislation at a time when corporations bought and sold state houses across the country. And so Wisconsin became the example. That's the other meaning, the connotation of the Wisconsin Idea. Many states across the United States followed the example, the lead of Wisconsin. So the conservatives, the reactionaries in the state and in the country, understand in that sense that goes Wisconsin, so goes the rest of the country. |
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