My friend and frequent MoD contibutor Ryan Wherley has an important message for Wisconsinites: VOTE.
With the final Marquette poll prior to Tuesday's upcoming election having been released and Walker showing his largest lead of the past several months, things aren't looking so hot for Mary Burke. But we can win if we just turn out and vote. And for those of you who despise Walker but say you'd rather sit out this election because you're just too apathetic and think it won't make a difference, or dislike both Walker and Burke, or refuse to cave on your idealistic litmus test of what makes a candidate worthy of your vote because you say that you're done voting for the "lesser of two evils," please spare me the whiny bullshit.
Try spending a day in my job talking with the people in Wisconsin who are struggling and receiving public assistance, most of them working, many of them toiling at or near the $7.25/hour.minimum wage that the GovernEr refuses to raise, because in his words the minimum wage "doesn't really serve a purpose." Many of them are young adults, or children, or elderly, or disabled. Some have had their unemployment insurance benefits cut, or have seen their FoodShare allotments slashed and burned because of callous, political decisions by our ideologue GovernEr. My *favorite* of his recent unconscionable decisions was his move to turn down a $54 to $1 return on investment from the feds by declining to increase energy assistance payments to needy families this winter, ending Wisconsin's participation in the "Heat and Eat" program and costing some individuals more than $100/month in reduced FoodShare, solely for Walker to score political points with his extremist-right wing base.
image courtesy Citizen Action of Wisconsin
Better yet, I'd like you to have to break the news to someone that they're losing their BadgerCare or ineligible upon application because we verified that they make 100.2% of the Federal Poverty Level. I've done it. In person. Over-the-phone. While processing documents with only myself and my computer around. It's terrible, it's heartbreaking, and I feel sick to my stomach every time. I'd like you to explain it to them without politicizing it, when you can literally feel their disappointment, fear, panic and desperation upon learning they no longer have health insurance. We know that virtually every person kicked off of or kept off of BadgerCare because their income is between 100 and 138%, has Scotty to thank for being without health insurance as a result of his cold, heartless decision to reject billions of dollars in federal taxpayer money for the Medicaid expansion. Mary Burke would take that money, covering tens of thousands more adults with affordable health insurance, saving our state hundreds of millions of dollars a year, creating thousands of jobs, and undoubtedly saving lives.
I go to work every single day and deal with the reality that there is a MAJOR difference between a fascist sociopath like Walker who drops off truckloads of flaming brown bags of bullshit on every doorstep, park bench, couch and street corner every morning for the poor in our state...and Mary Burke, who has actually worked to help those in need in her lifetime and would make decisions that would save lives, prevent hunger, and protect the health of individuals and families across our state.
So the next time you think to yourself that it doesn't matter who wins next Tuesday because there's no difference between Scott Walker and Mary Burke, think again. Try to view the world through an empathetic lens, and put yourself in the shoes of the poverty-stricken, working poor, unemployed, disabled, elderly and children in our state. It's clear that the two major candidates couldn't be further apart.
VOTE for Mary Burke. No excuses. VOTE. It's only Wisconsin's future on the line. VOTE. Because I can't fathom how we'll get through four more years of Fitzwalkerstan if Democrats, socialists, liberals, progressives, and independent anti-Walker moderates stay home. VOTE. NOVEMBER 4th. Forever FORWARD.
Editor's note: Polls are open from 7am to 8pm on Election Day, Nov. 4. In-person absentee voting continues through Oct. 31 at your local clerk's office. Click here to register, see a sample ballot, and find your polling place: https://myvote.wi.gov/.
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| Voting for Mary Burke isn't the only way to support Wisconsin families. Do you think Wisconsin should accept available federal funds for BadgerCare? If you live in the City of Kenosha or the following counties: Dane, Milwaukee, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Outagamie, Jefferson, Rock, Wood, Portage, Oneida, Dunn, Chippewa, St Croix, Lincoln, Bayfield, Douglas, Clark, Iron, & Florence you can vote directly on Nov 4th! http:// |
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