Andre's Executive Order

I am a liberal. I am that fellow that a certain part of rural America thinks is out to get them. I am a member of that group that Fox News tells it's viewers hates American wants to hand this nation over to the Europeans, the Marxists, the Russians, the Chinese and the Atheists. I am a liberal and this is the core of what I believe. I believe in the American individual. I believe that every individual is born with a certain abilities that could make America stronger and deserves the chance to thrive. However we live in a country of unequal opportunity where circumstance and situation often define whether or not that potential will ever have a chance to grow. When individuals are mired in poverty or violence or ignorance we all lose the benefit of their gifts. I believe it is our duty as Americans to establish structures to prevent individuals from regularly falling so far away form their potential that they become anchors on the best of us instead of assets to all of us. I believe ...

In today's world, we've lost the ability to be meaningfully critical about our politicians. I don’t mean that we've lost our ability to CRITICIZE them – far from it; We make a celebration out of criticizing political officials and our government. What I mean is that we have lost the ability to look at the actions of a politician and to compare those results to what we voted for and what we were promised. We have a hard time holding the specific person we put into office accountable for their decisions and policies. The tendency, today, is to line up on party or candidate lines and to do everything and anything we can do defend or attack a specific politician no matter what they do. Critically evaluating patterns in politics is how one achieves clarity. As officials make choices, you look at the information you have like jigsaw puzzle pieces handed to you day by day. You then look at the explanations provided by those political leaders as an assertion of the puzzle will look...

Corporatism. I've realized in talking to my conservative friends over the last few weeks that not many people understand what I mean when I use this word. Liberals as a whole tend to express ire over what they see as unjust exemption of corporation from taxation while conservatives argue that taxing business ultimately slows economic growth and job creation. But neither of these stances has anything to do with corporatism. Corporatism is the use of our political system to leverage business against us. It is a hostile takeover of our country that makes us believe we're working on something together while we effectively clear the path for the export of the country's resources and wealth. Before I begin, I understand that what I'm about to say can be jarring. It sounds downright conspiratorial at first particularly if you are a party loyalist. We never really want to take a hard look at the possibility that we're being used, and to follow the rise of corporatism you h...

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Scott Walker's intentions, presuming no underlying plans, are admirable. In fact, my first impression of the prank call played on the Governor was the stark realization that he genuinely believes in what he's doing. However the methods he has chosen to enact this agenda have overshadowed those goals and sent Wisconsin down a destructive road. Here's how we got where we are in short. The Budget Repair Bill was introduced with the heavy taint of deception: Assembly Democrats being given no warning for the 144 page document that would be dropped in their laps for a same day vote on its introduction. The plan was to rush sweeping changes to government employment through the Legislature in five days to avoid backlash from the unions. Wisconsin Republicans legislators didn't come to the legislative process to create a law fixing the budget, it was already written. Instead they were essentially told in advance how the process ...

Governor Walker says the deadline to refinance Wisconsin's debt it today. The word 'refinance' suggests we will seek a lower interest rate and save money. But if you listen to Walker, he never actually says that. He says it will help him avoid having to lay off workers which is possible. But the truth about the money itself is that he's borrowing allocated tax funds for the May debt payment to balance his current budget. That borrowing will result in another 14-25M in interest owed by the State turning 165M into nearly 200M. The argument can be made that that losing jobs is worse for the economy than acquiring some additional debt. But that argument rings hollow when you consider the impact of Walker's and the Republican's budgets on the economy as a whole. Beware those who treat fiscal responsibility as an ENDS instead of a MEANS. Cutting spending by the by government during a recession when the general public and private enterprise is skittish about THEIR spen...