Political Heat

Governor questions our intelligence with comparison between dangers of bows versus guns Gov. Scott Walker is a darling of the gun lobby. It’s not exactly a secret. The NRA gave Walker nearly a million dollars to help him win his recall election last year. No doubt that contribution was in recognition of Walker’s efforts to bring about gun legislation that catered to the organization’s likings. A concealed carry law allowing gun owners across the state to have weapons in public areas, as well as a “castle doctrine” law that allows you to shoot a person dead when you feel threatened ( even when the supposed “assailant” is unarmed ), have given Walker a boost to his already conservative credentials, especially among gun enthusiasts (and manufacturers). It’s not all-too surprising, then, to see Gov. Walker making outlandish statements about guns. In the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, however, many conservatives have tried to avoid the issue, while others have defended the Secon...

The move to allocate based on district winners is entirely political The recent push for states to change how they allocate their electoral college votes should be soundly rejected. The move is nothing more than an attempt by Republican lawmakers to diminish the outcomes that are favorable to Democrats while empowering their own electoral achievements. 
 Were it any different, were this truly a sincere gesture toward ensuring districts hand out votes in a fair way, we would be seeing this move enacted in state legislatures where Republicans are the clear winners instead of battleground states. Why don’t states like Texas, with 34 Electoral College votes that typically all go to the Republican candidate year after year, have similar legislation being proposed? The answer is because the Republicans aren’t interested in fairness . Instead, we’re seeing this plan hashed out in swing states where the races have been close but won by Democrats in recent elections. The move allows thos...

Studies indicate that choice schools do little to improve, on average, students' marks U.S. News and World Report recently reported on rankings for graduation rates across the nation, released by the National Center for Education Statistics. While 78 percent of high schoolers nationwide completed their four-year degree (the best since 1974), Wisconsin saw an even better rate of completion, with more than 91 percent of students graduating high school in 2010 . That rate puts Wisconsin at number two across the nation, just behind Vermont. It’s a distinction that we should be proud of, one that demonstrates as a prime example our dedication towards education in the Badger state. Unfortunately, that distinction may not be around for long: the data comes from graduates in the 2009-10 school year, before Gov. Scott Walker made the largest cuts to schools in our state’s history. Now, with class sizes increased and resources cut in schools across Wisconsin, Gov. Walker and legisla...

The fight for equality is a long road faced by many Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision for America is not yet fully realized. Not when so many still judge a person on their skin color, their gender, or their preference for whom they choose to love. We have come a long way since 1963, when King made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. But we have a long way to go before the tenets of that speech are fully realized. Roads still lie ahead to be traveled, hearts and minds to be won, before the King’s words ring true in our land. His vision for America didn’t stop at race -- he fought hard for equality not just among whites and blacks, but for many other people who had been victimized by stigmas and lack of power in society. I have no doubt in my mind that today, King would be on the side of encouraging rights for others beyond just racial discrimination. His words would be hypocritical were it otherwise. The man who is profiled based upon his skin color, the woman who is passed over f...

Viral video chooses its OWN stats in gun debate I recently was asked to watch a video called “ Choose your own Crime Stats ,” in which the host of the video tells you a myriad of murder and violent crime stats that are meant to shock you. Mostly, they’re meant to make you skeptical of gun control legislation. Many of the points that are made in the video do, at first glance, cause you to pause and consider the host’s point of view. Which is what any of us should do when we have a rational discussion about any topic. But what I found fascinating about the video was the fact that it went ahead itself and “chose its own stats.” It disregarded several aspects of the debate, glossing over a whole decade of crime stats, as well as making unfair comparisons of the United States to Britain. I had three main criticisms of the now-viral web video. Please consider them each, and make up your own mind: who really is choosing their own stats here ?

Current electoral outcomes yield unrepresentative control More citizens in Wisconsin voted for Democrats than Republicans in Assembly races. Yet Republicans have a significant majority in that chamber. The same is true on the national stage: more voters across the country endorsed Democratic candidates, and still the House of Representatives has a Republican majority. The way our elections are set up enables each district to have a single representative, someone who is meant to represent a single geographical area in the legislature. Which is what we want -- people in the state and national legislatures representing our concerns, understanding the challenges that their constituents have. But at the same time, it’s possible for a minority to reign over the will of the majority -- and that’s indeed what’s happening within both the state and national stages.

Using the president's daughters, gun organization misleads the public The gun debate seems to have brought out the worst in some people. While most Americans try to have sensible debates and rational discussions on the matter of guns, others have gone an entirely different direction. Some have errantly called the actions of the president -- even before he made his announcement today calling for stricter gun regulations -- tyrannical. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul even likened President Obama to acting like a king. Obama’s actions are hardly monarchical -- indeed, the president has issued the lowest number of executive orders out of all the past presidents of the last one hundred years. None of his executive orders today imposes new policy, merely enforcing laws already passed. And he’s even recognized that his call for a new assault rifle ban requires passage through Congress. But none of that seems to matter to the fringe right. It’s frightening that those opposed to his cal...

Notions that the president staged the Sandy Hook shooting should not be entertained In light of the terrifying events that took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last December, I wrote on the need to assess the Second Amendment for what it was: a right protected to individuals to defend themselves, but a right that, nonetheless, comes with reasonable restrictions, as do all rights. Several gun owners across the country have shown that they disagree with such a notion. Alex Jones, who appeared on Piers Morgan’s CNN show to defend his beliefs, stated that “ 1776 would commence again ” if the government attempted to institute any regulations. Others have (errantly) compared the push to regulate with Adolph Hitler, whose gun reforms actually increased access to weaponry during the Third Reich, making that comparison seem rather foolish. But what’s most remarkable among the gun-toting maniacs out there (not responsible owners, mind you) who oppose any action wh...

Walker would rather we call him a moderate than actually be one Gov. Scott Walker recently told the Wisconsin State Journal that he and his Republican allies in the legislature would be pushing for a more “moderate” agenda in the second half of his first term in office. “We're not going to do things that are going to bring 80,000 or 100,000 people into the Capitol,” Walker told the State Journal in a recent interview. “It's just not going to happen again.” While it’s commendable that Walker should seek out a more “moderate” agenda, saying he's moderate and actually sticking to it are two different things . Time will tell whether Walker’s agenda will truly be more inclusive, or whether it will turn out to be just as extreme as the first two years of his term. Unfortunately, it seems as though Walker and Republicans aren’t proposing moderation for the right reasons . In fact, it seems more likely that it's being done in order to “save face” in the eyes of moderate...

From America's founding and onward, cooperation helped create a nation the envy of the world 2012 was a year of many things. We saw a man sky dive higher than anyone has ever jumped. We survived a few “end of the world” events, including the latest “scare” of the Mayan calendar. Technology in the palm of our hands grew, and our hearts swelled at the catastrophic events our minds could never have imagined. Politically speaking, 2012 was a strange and frustrating year, one that encompassed contempt from the people for their lawmakers -- but specifically, disdain for the uncooperative among them. The political winners of 2012 were mostly Democratic -- President Barack Obama cruised to re-election, Senate Democrats grew their majority, and Congressional Democrats took over many seats in the House that were lost in 2010. While most state governments remained Republican, much of that is attributed towards conservative gerrymandering -- even in Wisconsin, where the Assembly remaine...