2017 | Week of July 24 | #1213

Much of politics disgusts me. I am no fan at all of the games, the lies, the posturing, the meaningless rhetoric or the way money buys access and action far too often. That said, I also know that elections and politics matter and have very real consequences. When my disgust with state politics reaches a certain point, I jerk myself around to remembering where we could be. This legislative session has provided some excellent reminders of that reality.

Some review of pertinent facts. The Assembly currently has 64 Republicans and 35 Democrats, while the State Senate has 20 Republicans and 13 Democrats. The majority party in both houses gets to control basically everything. Republicans chair every committee in both houses and have majorities on every committee. That means Republicans determine which bills get hearings and which ones get votes and which bills just die. That’s a lot of power—and it happens because people like you and I vote people into office as part of the way a Republic operates.

So, let’s consider a few bills that Democrats, the minority party everywhere in state government, have introduced this session. On the pro-life issue, one such bill would remove the statute that criminalizes abortion. Pro-life groups have fought for years to keep that statute because we know when Roe v. Wade is overturned, we need such a statute on the books so that abortion is immediately illegal in our state. A resolution has been offered that declares abortion as health care. That’s ridiculous and dangerous. Elective abortions aren’t health care. That’s why taxpayers should not have to have a dime of their money going to pay for abortions.

Still in the pro-life category, we once again have a bill introduced that would legalize assisted suicide. This is a bill that just doesn’t die. It’s been introduced at least 10 times but those pushing this life-taking agenda just don’t quit. They keep coming back and coming back, doing their best to break down barriers and change minds.

Regarding marriage, liberals have introduced a bill that, among other things, would remove every reference to husband and wife in our state statutes and replace it with “spouse” and even would change “mother” and “father” on a birth certificate to gender neutral terms. It goes so far as to define a “natural parent” as “a parent of a child who is not an adoptive parent, whether the parent is biologically related to the child or not.” What a denial of reality! And who is the real loser on this one? The children who are deprived a fundamental right of knowing the truth about their biological parents. That’s lost in adult desires trumping everything, including scientific, biological realities.

Another bill about marriage would remove completely the waiting period between when a divorce is finalized and when another marriage can happen. Currently a person has to wait 6 months to marry after a divorce.  Marriage counselors say being able to go from the frying pan to the fire without a waiting period is a recipe for disaster and yet another divorce.

Moving into another area, recently a liberal progressive representative introduced a bill that would legalize both medicinal and recreational marijuana. The author tries to make this more palatable by saying she’s trying to regulate the drug’s use and thereby reduce usage. Nice try…but we know what other states are facing that have already gone down this path. Drug use escalates—and moves from marijuana to much harder drugs. Ask law enforcement in places where this is their every-day reality.

So, as disgusted as I can get with politics, when I see bills like these being introduced in our state legislature, I calm down. Why? Because I have every reason to believe none of these bills will even receive a hearing this session, let alone get a vote on the Senate or Assembly floor. They should be DOA. However, if the legislature were controlled by liberals…well, we all know the outcome would be substantially different.

Know that I don’t blame you if politics often disgusts you but remember that your voice and your vote are truly powerful and really do make a difference in huge ways before, during and after elections.

For Wisconsin Family Council, I’m Julaine Appling, reminding you the prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”