It’s not too often I hear much of anything regarding Wisconsin politics, which in the past has been just fine with me – living in western Wisconsin means I get Minnesota channels and Minnesota radio stations. In fact, the only way i know anything about someone who’s running in the state of Wisconsin is by yard signage that I should start to see in about a year (ugh). Since I’ve been listening to the talk radio on my way to work, I find that, unfortunately, I’m unable to avoid political rhetoric and commentary.
Regardless, this past week we found Wisconsin politics in many regional and national news outlets. Now I do not classify myself as a Republican nor a Democrat, conservative or liberal. I’ve quickly realized that Wisconsin has always been a Democratically controlled state – very liberal – and that my leanings are not liberal. I’ve mentioned before, time and time again my disdain for government as we’ve known it recently. And for the first time in a long time, I see some common sense coming out of a government official (Governor Scott Walker).
I see a lot of the B as in B, S as in S facebook ads promoting support for the unions as “supporting the working families”, which I find very odd – seeing as how those union benefits do absolutely NOTHING to support my working family. In fact, those will actually HURT my family. I work for a non-profit organization and I love what I do. If I do not do my job and/or do it well, I do not expect to be rewarded. However, if I do my job and do it well, I do expect to be rewarded – and I would hope that I would be able to keep those rewards and do what I wish with those rewards.
I understand that some level of taxation is necessary, I’m not about to doubt that – I enjoy roads (could do without the idiots who don’t know how to drive on said roads when there’s a little bit of snow, but that’s for another conversation), the police and fire departments and I realize that there’s some administration costs for running these things. But why am I paying for my retirement, saving money, paying for my health care – in addition to paying, through taxation, for other people’s retirement (pension) and health care, when they’re not paying 1/4 of what I’m paying into my own. Not only that but pensions are pretty much gone in the private arena. My parents both lost their pensions a few years back through some sneaky corporation financial wizardry. They have to work longer to make up for those promised benefits. It sucks for them, but they will continue to work for their rewards. Why is a teacher’s pension or a governmental worker’s pension completely safe from cutting like my parent’s was? The teacher’s union has too much power. We can’t touch their precious funds. And sure it would suck for the teacher’s to lose some or all of that pension, but how much of that pension have they paid into?
Why is it that a governmental office cannot fix what is broken? When my wife and I look at our finances, and see that we’re bringing in a certain amount and what we’re spending is more than that, we have to make a decision: stop spending so much, make more money or add debt. The third option is one we both HATE to do and is the very last thing we want. The second would be lovely, however, we’re only able to control so much of that. We both work hard to do what we can. The easiest thing to do is to stop spending so much – which I think we do fairly well. We’ve cut a lot of frivolous things out of our lives and some not so frivolous things. I haven’t played football in a couple years because it just costs too much in terms of moneys and time (I haven’t officially signed my retirement papers yet, I’m just taking a hiatus). The Wisconsin government is, FINALLY, trying to do the same thing. They see the need to cut spending and the unions are blocking them from fixing what is broken because it means some people need to work harder or longer. Well, boo f’n hoo. Times are tough. If taxes get raised, people and companies are going to leave the state and the tax revenue is going to decrease. You want more money for the government to do its thing? Make it more affordable to live and work here. Let businesses profit and expand and hire more employees. Let me spend my money in a manner that I wish to boost the economy – by purchasing products that are fairly priced and perform as promised.
Maybe this means I fall into the category of a conservative… if that’s the case, then so be it. I’m still not going to fall victim to party games (unless it’s Pictionary, Balderdash, Euchre or some other fun one) or party politics. Imma speak my mind and do what I think and feel is right for me and my family. If you have a problem with that – you can go f yourself.