I am in my office today trying to work and at the same time listen to the testimony at the budget hearing in Milwaukee on Wiseye.org. It's difficult to do CMS upgrades and listen to the heart of Wisconsin breaking at the same time. Person after person is testifying against the draconian provisions of the budget, telling very personal stories of how they and their organizations will be impacted by the proposed budget. Individuals with health problems, education professionals, people of faith, and others of every persuasion in life are testifying about how the massive budget cuts will affect the elderly, the poor, the ill, students, teachers, and others.
The self-created WIsconsin budget crisis becomes worse in each year of the Walker administration, and Walker has, with this budget, found a way to break the back of the state. The proposed cuts in taxes for the next year will only accelerate this race to the bottom. Please remember this as you have an opportunity to vote in the future. At this point I barely recognize Wisconsin as the state I grew up in. I know I am not the only person considering leaving the state because I have just grown tired of fighting this juggernaut. Reading the proposed budget is one of the most profoundly depressing events of my life, and although I believe even the current Republican legislature will make some changes to lessen the impact of this budget, it will mostly stand because of the dire financial position created by public policies promoted by the current governor and legislature. There is only one way to make this continual decline stop, which is to elect a legislature that will restore funding to state programs, and to create real policies to improve the economy of the state.