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11/3/2006 The Lesser Of Two Evils? Hold Your Nose And Vote! By Jack E. Lohman The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. Few would argue that state and federal politicians – on both sides of the isle – are not more beholden to campaign funders than to their voting constituents. When our 2000 state referendum passed with 90 percent public support for campaign reform, the legislature creatively constructed and governor McCallum signed a sham law shortly before the 2002 election. But it was laced with a poison pill purposely designed to kill it, and it worked exactly as planned. An audible sigh of relief was heard as the courts disqualified it after the election. Even as a lifelong Republican, I know that my party is not going to fix our corrupt political system, but instead, promise to make it worse. It was the Republican assembly that blatantly killed our only chance for ethics reform this year, and it is my party that has not lifted a finger to reduce the heavy taxes resulting from government giveaways to corporate contributors. Why should voters care? Because Wisconsin is the third highest taxed state in the nation, and it should surprise no one that virtually all of the state’s $4 billion in yearly corporate welfare goes to those who make campaign contributions. That’s $1,300 per taxpayer per year, when just $5 per taxpayer is all we’d need to publicly fund our elections. Interestingly, in Arizona’s Clean Election system the taxpayers don’t even fund the $5 election costs; criminals do. Some would cynically say that’s also the case in Wisconsin, but Arizona adds a surcharge to traffic and criminal fines, so if you don’t want to contribute to the electoral process, don’t break the law! Wisconsin also has the highest health care costs of all Midwestern states, thanks to the $1.4 million in campaign contributions from that industry. Though we pay about 50% more in health care costs than we should, even our non-healthcare business leaders are doing nothing to fix the system. Thus businesses and jobs are leaving the state, all while we’ve transformed health care from a social service into a for-profit market commodity. Both lower taxes and improved health care solutions are constantly being blocked by our corporately controlled legislature, and it is time for a major leadership change. Voters from the center – right and left – must send the message that they are now in charge; that they are not going to take it any more, and are expelling the politicians that have been milking the system. That means that virtually all Republicans and most Democrats must go, your politicians included. I am not a Governor Doyle fan, and I view with disgust the corruption surrounding his casino and other campaign contributions from special interests in the state. But a look at Mark Green’s state and federal voting record tells me it could get a lot worse, and he’s not from the same conservative Republican Party I grew up with. I’ll be voting for the lesser of two evils because there is at least a chance of reform if Doyle is re-elected and virtually none if Green prevails. Our unethical political system has hit rock bottom, and the only way up is with a new team. But get this message loud and clear: if the Democrats assume power and fail to fix our corrupt political system in the next legislative session, there will be as big an effort for regime change in 2008. Legislators will lose their jobs, guaranteed. It is time for voters to demonstrate that rhetoric no longer counts. When the government is poorly managed, we will take control. We have that power, and we have that obligation. -- Lohman is a retired business owner from Colgate and founder of http://www.ThrowTheRascalsOut.org. He can be reached at jlohman@execpc.com. |
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