Mike Konczal put together this nice graphic of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s roadmap to a batshitloonitarian paradise:
Konczal notes:
There’s a three-prong approach in Governor Walker’s plan that highlights a blueprint for conservative governorship after the 2010 election. The first is breaking public sector unions and public sector workers generally. The second is streamlining benefits away from legislative authority, especially for health care and in fighting the Health Care Reform Act. The third is the selling of public assets to private interests under firesale and crony capitalist situations.
This wasn’t clear to me at first. I thought this was about a narrow disagreement over teacher’s unions. Depending on what you read, you may have only seen a few of these parts, and you may have not seen them put together as a coherent whole. This will be the framework that other conservative governors, and even a few Democratic ones, will use in their state, so it is good to get a working model in place….
Notice that each of these objectives overlap with each other. Privatizing services cuts public workers out while crony deals, skimming and poor services creates distrust in the government, leading to a negative feedback loop.
States will have to deal with their budgets. There are costs coming down the road. But the important thing to understand is that the new wave of governance at the state level isn’t about handling these problems — it’s about changing what the government does in a more reactionary and polarized way. Squeezing regular people to provide benefits will maintain and expand our high levels of inequality. Its about making struggling parties weaker and strong parties richer. Making it almost impossible to raise taxes later is irresponsible and dangerous, but it accelerates this plan. They hoped to handle this all behind closed doors — sadly for them, and lucky for the public, activism and the internet are shining a large spotlight on their actions.
I’m glad Konczal laid this out, but I’m perplexed as to why this wasn’t obvious until Walker’s shutdown (and inadvertent conversation with the ‘fake Koch brother’–who definitely need to call themselves the Kochblockers…). Grover Norquist has been saying this crapdoodle for years. Perhaps it’s my long-term exposure to creationism–and the recognition that there’s significant overlap between the batshitloonitarians and the theopolitical right—but I do take their words at face value. Norquist was serious about this stuff two decades ago; Walker means it today.
The right is somewhat transparent, if you’re paying attention.
mikethemadbiologist
Krugman has written on “Starve the Beast” during most of the Bush43 presidency.
And to repeat, contrary to your self-link, Krugman had his “creationist” moment regarding the right-wing way back when. If you’re puzzled about MSM unable to notice the obvious, start with yourself.
BTW, you seem to have a minor infestation of copy-and-paste spambots.
OK, this isn’t the worst I’ve seen, but I have to wonder what constitutes a “great graphic.” How does putting circles around these clusters of words and arrows between them enhance our understanding of the point?
Is this some sort of standard chart I’m unaware of, or do people just make these things up? I suspect that PowerPoint is to blame.
Krugman has written on “Starve the Beast” during most of the Bush43 presidency.
And to repeat, contrary to your self-link, Krugman had his “creationist” moment regarding the right-wing way back when. If you’re puzzled about MSM unable to notice the obvious, start with yourself.
And now, right here in this thread.
Everyone has hot button triggers, and one of mine is people who abuse perfectly good concepts like positive and negative feedback.
Negative feedback is when the results of a perturbation counter the perturbation, resulting in a tendency to return to equilibrium.
A marble at the bottom of a convex-up bowl has negative feedback from gravity to perturbations away from the bottom.
Positive feedback is when the results of a perturbation add to the perturbation, resulting in an accelerating instability.
A marble balanced on top of a convex-up bowl has positive feedback from gravity to perturbations away from the top.
I really, really need to proofread more carefully:
s/bottom of a convex-up bowl/bottom of a concave-up bowl/
It has been said, all the way back to Reagan, that the broad stroke plan was to simultaneously cut taxes and spend government money in wasteful ways to bankrupt the public coffers, and then to use this as an excuse to roll back the New Deal, and return to Gilded Age policies. Thirty years later we find out this was correct.
Many existing laws and regulations apply specifically to pregnant women. Several provisions of the Affordable Care Act offer new benefits for expecting mothers. Search online for “Wise Health Insurance” if you need affordable insurance for yourself or your wife.
Given the recent spate of abortion-related legislation going on across the country, I’d say Norquist’s famous saying needs to be amended:
Republicans want to shrink government until it can fit in your bedroom.
It has been said, all the way back to Reagan, that the broad stroke plan was to simultaneously cut taxes and spend government money in wasteful ways to bankrupt the public coffers, and then to use this as an excuse to roll back the New Deal, and return to Gilded Age policies. Thirty years later we find out this was correct.
Creationist, GW denialist, and Tea Bagger spambots and sockpuppets I understand. (I loathe them, but I understand their intent.) What the heck is the purpose of copying a random post and repeating it under a fake name?