The twisted metamorphosis of Scott Walker’s Wisconsin: How
OH, this article is so depressing to me--probably because I see so much truth in it!
Thursday, Apr 9, 2015 03:35 PM CST
http://www.salon.com/2015/04/09/the_secret_history_of_scott_walkers_wisconsin_how_a_once_liberal_state_became_a_political_battlefield/
The twisted metamorphosis of Scott Walker’s Wisconsin: How a once-liberal state became a political battlefield
Walker ushered in a new era of conservatism in Wisconsin, but there's much more behind the state's transformation
David A. Schultz
How do you explain Wisconsin? Once the home to progressive liberal politics and politicians, such as governors Gaylord Nelson, Patrick Lucey and Anthony Earl, Wisconsin now produces the likes of union-busting Gov. Scott Walker, and a GOP-controlled legislature enacting voter ID, onerous abortion regulations, and anti-union right-to-work rules.
The state now even has a polarized and partisan Supreme Court with a constitutional crisis on its hands: Voters have just adopted a ballot initiative that would dislodge Shirley Abrahamson, the court’s liberal chief justice, from the position she has held since 1996, and turn it over to the Republicans on the bench.
(Abrahamson was elected by voters in 2009 to a new 10-year term; she is now suing to retain her position.)
How has Wisconsin turned into the partisan battleground it is today? Part of the answer lies in factors idiosyncratic to Wisconsin, but part also speaks to the relative narratives both Republicans and Democrats use both in-state and nationwide to win elections...............