Editor's Note: The following column was written by Gov. Scott Walker.
The United States of America is arguably the greatest country in the history of the world because in times of crisis, whether it be economic, fiscal, or military, ordinary citizens have risked their futures with the hope that they could make our country better off for the next generation.
I was reminded of this when, not too long ago, I visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia for the first time in my life. When I walked into the room and saw the chairs and desks that Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and others used to create our founding documents, it had a powerful impact on me.
When I was a student learning about our nation’s birth, I often thought of our founders as superheroes. But literally seeing the chairs they sat in and the small room used to debate and adopt the Declaration of Independence made me realize they were just ordinary people who did something exceptional. Our founders were normal people who risked everything to standup to an oppressive government with the hope that they could make America a better place for their children and grandchildren.
Since that time, military service members have selflessly served to protect the freedoms our founders risked their lives for when they read the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, at Independence Square. Both military service members and veterans are in large part responsible for the preservation of our society as we know it today.
Because of this, I proclaimed 2012 the , with the hope we could help those returning home reintegrate into civilian society with housing, education, health care, and meaningful jobs.
The best part of my job is welcoming home those who have served overseas. The hardest days are when I have to attend military funerals. However hard it is, talking with the families of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, always gives me hope. At nearly every military funeral I attended, a family member or friend of the fallen soldier has come up to me and thanked the people of our great state for honoring those returning home. It’s remarkable that those who are experiencing an unbelievable amount of grief from the loss of a son or daughter, husband or wife, or friend, can take the time to thank the people of our state. They are what make our state and country great.
While we will certainly face difficult challenges in the future, it is important to remember the extraordinary courage exhibited by ordinary people throughout our nation’s history. Today I hope you’ll join me in celebrating the courage exhibited by our founders, our service members, and our veterans. If you see a veteran or service member at a parade, community event or gathering, please thank them for their service and for protecting our freedoms.
Scott Walker
Governor of Wisconsin
You must be in the minority. 61% now see the future improving. Too bad what you so badly want to happen may blow up because some inept rich guy doesn't know how to cover up his ostentatious lifestyle and is clueless how to do it. For a party that is so identified with the 1%, this poster boy was the absolute worst person to run. Yup that's just what the GOP needs. A candidate with off-shore accounts stuffed with money because he off-shored jobs.
And - to the person who commented about not "getting laid" - you have shown your complete lack of maturity - that is a typical male chauvinist come back - used whenever a person has nothing to add to a discussion. How pathetic....
Four year olds expect their presidents to be perfect and the world of politics is full of compromise, but experience has shown us that Obama's policies worked. Why else wouldn't the GOP in Congress want to fund them? It can't be because the GOP has something better. They don't. Anyone who claims that Obama and Romney are "interchangeable" is yet another display of bogus cynicism. There are sue whacko liberals who will claim that. So you are in good company Bob.
Thanks for the input. I'll weight it properly based on what I've seen of your political/business/analytical acumen in action.
I'm sorry, I just don't know what else to say at something so obviously ABSURD...
What a totally brilliant solution - are you honestly advocating that the Democrats hand out 'free blankets' to conservatives in order to try and sell them on the merits of Obamacare? Why would it take such an extreme measure in order to sell conservatives on the idea? If it was good legislation, wouldn't it stand on its own merits? Essentially, Obamacare is little more than a giant hypocrisy in and of itself - force everyone to pay under the guise of preventing 'freeloaders' in order to pay for even more freeloaders. Yep, that makes a whole lotta sense all right!
Doyle better than Walker - sorry, I just fell out of my chair from laughing so hard!
Wow, your mothers must be proud...
And you still haven't answered my question. Do you agree with Frasko that the "sacrifices" made by public employees are equal to those of our military forces, thus making them deserving of the same recognition accorded the troops? That was the point of my comments, which you misread and/or misinterpreted. Stating that there is parity of some sort is ridiculous. Public employees are paid and get benefits for what they do. They've been asked to make some relatively meager sacrifices as compared to those made by many in the private sector. Suggesting that they need to be recognized for making those sacrifices and celebrated for having done so by folks who've probably sacrificed more themselves and, yet, can still recognize that what they've sacrificed is nothing compared to what troops in battle sacrifice, is the height of overwrought self-interest and immaturity.
Interestingly, the feature of the Affordable Healthcare act that has drawn the most ire -- the individual mandate -- is the idea first espoused by the Republicans. All the way back to Bob Dole.
****************** It's only "interesting" if you look at this solely as a political football. Given the way AHA is set up, individual mandate is a bad idea regardless of what party or what side of the political fence is pushing it. It's essentially a hotdog on a stick offered to the insurance companies to go along with the rest of the plan. The gamble, on the part of the administration, is that if it turns out to suck badly, the net result will be a call for UHC which is what they actually wanted right out of the box, but couldn't get a consensus on.
For years we have pointed out that, yes, uninsured medical treatments are a large cost of the current healthcare costs. There are other solutions out there. 1) Under the Paul Ryan plan, health insurance participation is encouraged by offering huge tax incentives. 2) Allowing more competition in the health insurance field to lower costs, including simple major medical coverage with minimal costs that only provide coverage to huge expenditures. 3) holding those that choose to be uninsured responsible by removing medical bankruptcy. We can fix this system, but the best way is for government to ease regulation!
As for Walker, you've had two opportunities to vote against him - 1 more than you deserved - and he won both times. Regardless of your personal opinion, the majority don't agree with you. The rhetoric coming from your side, bombastic as it has been for the past year and a half, hasn't even come close to hitting the mark. You folks can continue to pout and complain about him and look like sore losers, or you can act like grown-ups, suck it up and move on. Your choice. I could go on and on about how the neophyte in Washington let opportunities to pursue his stated agenda slip through his hands early on in his term and then attempted to blame his own ineptitude on the opposition, but what's the point in that? The majority put him in office. If they put him back in office in 2012, so be it. It's not the end of the world.
Had I ghostwritten this puff piece I would have done so in Walker's "voice," that is to say, first person plural. ; )
LOL. LIke any of us care.
No wonder this country is in trouble. And THEY want to suppress people's votes?