If ever there was an enemy of the American worker it is Scott Walker. This militant right-winger has made a career of pandering to the rich and powerful and destroying workers’ rights in his state. Now he wants to bring his reptilian style to the White House.
Walker is the kind of guy you instinctively want to smack upside the head on passing. He is a sneak and a schemer, a suck-up and a bully. His top aides have been convicted of campaign finance violations. A radio show host pretended to be one of the Koch brothers and taped him in a conversation that hilariously – and frighteningly – displayed his craven submission to his billionaire patron. He is known for his vendettas against political opponents and for shamelessly bestowing favors on supporters.
Of course you can’t believe a word this guy says. After his re-election as Wisconsin governor in 2014, he insisted he would stick with the job and not run for US President. Indeed, he declared, “you have to be crazy to want to be president.”
Yeah, crazy like a fox.
The fact that such a person can be a credible candidate for President says a lot about the state of politics in America – and what it says is scary as hell.
In his book, “Unintimidated, a Governor’s Story and a Nation’s Challenge,” Walker boasts that:
Today, we can sound like conservatives and act like conservatives – and still win elections. Those who say we can’t don’t see what I see in Wisconsin and what my fellow governors in states all across America see. We don’t need to change our principles. What we need is more courage.
That. folks, is a declaration of war.
The “principles” this menace refers to include not only the standard “conservative” list of regressive social policies but also a mind-numbing recipe for economic oppression of the middle class.
His regime in Wisconsin was distinguished by union busting and the sabotage of such basic rights as education and health care. He has been a fervent supporter of such “reforms” as privately run prisons and right-to-work laws. And he is a rabid anti-environmentalist, of course. His fealty to the Koch brothers demands no less.
Yes, Scott Walker has to be the most unsavory entry yet into the crowded ranks of Republican presidential candidates. But this slippery son of a Baptist preacher is not to be underestimated. Dodging massive recall efforts as Wisconsin governor, and outflanking numerous opponents in a long career of retail politics, he has shown he knows how to manipulate the American voter.
What depresses me is that Americans have been brainwashed so successfully over the past half century that “conservative” principles like Walker’s are actually embraced by so many people.
If Scott Walker becomes President, we will find out once and for all just how catastrophic such “principles” can be.
Click for more on Scott Walker.
Click for his campaign shenanigans.
