State of the State, 2010

It became clear to me last evening that I am living in a different Wisconsin than that described by Gov. Doyle in his final State of the State message.

His view of what he has done “for us” during his soon-to-be eight years in office could have better been a list of what he has done “to us”, and yet he somehow managed to miss all those nice changes that he has brought to us.

I realize that I am simply a citizen in his state.  I realize that I am a conservative and he isn’t.  I realize that I didn’t vote for him, even once, but he was my governor nonetheless.

Were I a trial attorney, or a union leader, or state employee, I might have a much more benevolent feeling about him and his “accomplishments”.  He managed to expand the state’s reach into areas I didn’t even realize we had; he was good at governance-creep.

He has managed to mire us in debt to the point that we will be very hard-pressed to come out of it in the next decade, if then.  Our unemployment numbers are bad and our tax situation is bad.  His accomplices in the state Senate and the Assembly were, of course, in attendance and seemed to be drinking the Kool-Aid right along as the speech droned on for nearly an hour.

The requisite audience members were recognized as he progressed from one ‘great accomplishment’ to another.

I have spent the past eight years in a different state if I am to believe the utterances I heard last evening.  I have seen increased budgets at the state level while the amounts provided to our schools and our communities for their use in abiding the state’s rules diminished.

Is it actually possible that one can have such a contrary view of what he has done compared to the view of one to whom it was done?  I suppose that could be.

The Wisconsin he is leaving in our care as he moves on, to whatever role he’ll play in whatever governmental position he next occupies, is not in very good fiscal condition so far as I am concerned with a billion dollar plus systemic budget deficit.  It has also taken some social hits, too.

Good riddance.

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The Curmudgeon Blog today is titled "Climate Change Legislation".