LETTER: Time to fix our past mistakes

To the Telegram:

The repeal of Wisconsin’s equal pay law shows what Gov. Scott Walker is all about. He is not doing what is necessary to balance the budget. He is using the budget to repeal the 20th Century.

What does denying women equal pay for equal work have to do with balancing the budget or creating jobs?

Nothing. Neither does restrictive legislation on women’s reproductive rights. Neither does restricting voting rights with the voter ID bill. Neither does the concealed carry law for handguns or the attack on recycling and the refusal to support wind generators for electricity. These things do reflect an extreme, ideologically-driven, reactionary social and political agenda that is the real objective of Republican radicals.

All of these measures plus the extreme budget cuts to education, health care, public services and local government are part of a national agenda to dismantle the progress of the last century.

They want to return to the 1870s when rich, white men were men, women were the husband’s property, blacks were in their place, workers didn’t dare speak out and the 1 percent ruled unchallenged by taxes, regulations, fairness or peon common citizens.

So if you ladies want to be barefoot, pregnant and back in the kitchen, vote for Walker. If you want a better future for your daughters (and sons) with access to college, fair pay, health care, clean air, safe water, and hope of a decent retirement, vote to recall Walker.

We must work together to find real solutions to our budget problems. To move forward, we don’t need to destroy past social progress. We do need to correct one past mistake by recalling Walker.

Philip Anderson,

Maple

Tags: opinion, letters