WTF? Was one of the most common responses to Scott Walker’s ‘Big Show’ roll out of Wisconsin Social Reform under the cover of his now infamous Budget Repair Bill. Where the heck did this come from?
It is apparent that it didn’t come from his campaign rhetoric. Walker seemed to be specific about things he said he intended to do, he listed at least 60 intentions during in his campaigning but busting unions and generally attacking the states public works and social institutions wasn't among those five dozen things.
So we must look elsewhere.
Some would probably say Social Darwinism. By cutting state funding he might be seen to support the notion of economic selection-- that in the end the fittest will survive this test and the State will be much better off for that. BUT, Walker _is_ the son of a Baptist minister, it’s hardly likely that he believes in a principle that would be called Darwinian even if the term weren’t coined by Darwin but Herbert Spencer. But hey, Darwin has some evidence supporting his side. I wouldn't give Scott Walker that much credit. Maybe Scott and I could agree to say he is a Social Lysenkoist.
Lysenkoism is a failed philosophy of Soviet agronomist Trofim Lysenko. Lysenko didn’t believe in Darwinian evolution either. But he did have an idea about how to make seeds produce better in Russia’s cold short season climates. The idea was referred to as vernalization--or winterizing. If you wanted wheat to produce better in a cold climate you exposed it to the cold… Hardship yielded--Hardiness! Apparently through some sort of acquired trait thing that a Lamarck might well have said.
In general, what Lysenko called vernalization had evidence against it from the start. But not all of its appeal was psuedoscientific, Lysenkoism also held appeal to Stalinist politicians, as in "Yes, my dear Comrade, Russian peasants do have it HARD on the Collective but this policy WILL make you Hardy and MORE PRODUCTIVE!"
So I am wondering, was it Walker himself who somehow channeled Trofim or was it David Kock who convinced Walker into pushing onto Wisconsin this Social Lysenkoism? I don't know. I suppose in either case the budget reform bill would look the same result.
Walker certainly believes in it. His policy position really does seem to be that if you deny students the support of teachers that student grades will improve. He seems to be saying if you deny poor sick people BadgerCare this will harden them into healthy citizens capable of doing good profitable work for Koch Industries. That if you cut state workers, the roads will have better snow removal, and with fewer bus drivers the buses will run on time. And that if you subject the citizens of the entire state to every abject austerity program you can invent, the state will suddenly become absolutely prosperous.
Lysenko so believed in his ideas that he convinced Stalin to kill Russian geneticists that rejected it. Unfortunately it wasn’t true. It not only killed a bunch of academics, it starved a whole lot of poor Russian people. Walker’s ideas about how capitalist struggle offers a promise of goodness is surprisingly Lysenko-esque. Walker so believes in his "only water the top" notion, that he is willing to turn the state on its side to be sure that no moist life giving goodness reaches the bottom. He sees this as the best way to make the state strong, by stressing the roots. This will have foreseeable consequences.
Stalin and company behind the speaking Lysenko, from their faces it seems
that there response is also WTF?
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