By DON FOY | La Farge
Recently, I saw an American and a Wisconsin flag flying in front of a large building. Both flags were tattered. The state and the nation are tattered, all right. We’re tattered because big business and billionaires have been buying up the institutions of democracy for their private use.
In the words of Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education, “I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence; now I concede the point. They are right … We expect a return on our investment.” (Trump said he’d drain the swamp, but he brought in more alligators.) The leadership of the Republican Party promotes a consistent legislative program of carrying out the will of large corporations and their lobbyists. The welfare of citizens and the common good and the ideals of democracy are not only ignored, but inconvenient. Republican leadership wants limited government all right; government is an impediment to its plans.
Many other states besides Wisconsin are following this pro-money, anti-citizenry agenda. There is a play book, “model legislation” written by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Corporations supply members, (almost exclusively) Republican legislators, and a wish list that the legislators then enact in their home states. In turn, the corporations support these legislators’ election bids. It’s the legalized bribery club. In Wisconsin, Leah Vulkmir, Scott Fitzgerald, Anita Darling, Robin Vos, and about 30 other legislators are members of ALEC (sourcewatch.org).
If you think democracy and the American experiment are worth saving, vote Democrat.
