Ask a Republican: People or Profits?

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Once upon a time in America, you weren’t faced with a choice of either people or profits. You had them both. During that period, sometime before Ronald Reagan, the American economy was driven by employees and customers with profits however small or big shared by nearly everyone, relatively speaking. We didn’t know how good we had it back then, and certainly don’t realize how poor we have it now.

Today, American companies and manufacturers flee to areas around the world, employing cheap labor and operating in unregulated environments, all in the name they tell us, to sell for less. Things which really count for our quality of life that cannot be outsourced like gasoline, energy, hospitals, healthcare, housing, pharmaceuticals, private utilities, and local business monopolies are all still operating in that prosperous American economy, an economy based on selling for the highest prices the market will bear. All the while serving customers competing in a global economy whose compensation and wages are based more and more on the lowest the market will bear. Things are more complicated than that for sure, but grasping this simple concept is a big step to understanding why some of us are doing so well, while others are doing so poorly.

This is why I believe Democrats are trying to help level the playing field for everyone, before its too late. They are not afraid to use government as the great equalizer for the good of its people and recognize that greedy capitalists and corporatists are draining hard earned dollars from those living here on global market wages.

In his State of the State speech, Gov. Doyle says he may have found a way to tax one of the worst offenders of this imbalance without passing the tax onto consumers.

State of the State:
Tonight, I propose an oil company assessment of two and a half percent per barrel to support our transportation needs. It will be illegal for them to pass the fee on to consumers … with criminal penalties if they break the law. Let’s turn the tables on big oil, and give Wisconsin families a break.

If it is legal and durable, it is possible that Gov. Doyle may have found the “Holy Grail” everyone has been looking for to exert fiscal justice against price gouging and windfall profits at its highest levels.

Naysayers and supporters of profits over people have tremendous wealth and media tools at their disposal and will try to quash this plan before it gains any traction. They will try to pretend that taxes collected by the state somehow benefit Doyle and not the people. Nothing can be more preposterous. That other states have tried similar ideas with limited success is no cause for concern, Wisconsin Democrats know this tool needs to be sharpened.

That is why State Senator Judy Robson is requesting support on this matter and has issued a letter encouraging input from Wisconsin residents. Those dollars confiscated at the pump by Big Oil are lost forever if we do nothing.

In Rock County it is important to write a letter or speak to your Republican Representatives, local newspapers and organizations like the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) expressing your views and asking them where they stand. For people or profits? Don’t be discouraged if they sidestep your question or refuse to answer because if they do, you’ll know they’re not for you.

Write to:
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce
Republican Assembly Leader Scott Fitzgerald
Rep. Brett Davis - 80th Assembly District
Rep. Scott Gunderson - 83rd Assembly District
Rep. Stephen Nass - 31st Assembly District
Rep. Thomas Lothian - 32nd Assembly District
Sen. Neal Kedzie - 11th Senate District