We often hear about the effect of the perfect message in politics. Here in Wisconsin our Governor knows how to appeal to democratic voters. The sad fact is there are people who voted Scott Walker but turned around to Vote for Barack Obama. I have taken a look a the Scott Walker message and found out that is Bernie Sanders in reverse.
First I want to point out that in his victory speech in 2010 he said " I am not going to look back to lay blame for the difficult challenges we face. I am going to look forward to the future to face challenges to get this state working again." The idea of populism is that a politician will have a message geared toward the interest of everyday Americans. Hearing a governor who is not looking to cast blame but to fix things works well in populist areas. The sad thing is that Governor Walker spent the next 4 years blaming Jim Doyle for almost everything.
To justify Act 10 and Right to Work he painted a picture on how this would benefit the people of Wisconsin. Walker went on television saying how the state was broke and "reforms" needed to happen. It was also messaged that "we took power away from the union bosses and big government special interest and put it back in the hard-working taxpayers of Wisconsin." Both of these messages resonated with people in populist areas because they know what it means to be broke. Noticed he used the term broke not the deficit. People from populist areas also think the government has too much power so painting the unions as big government special interest also resonated in populist areas.
The one that resonates the most is that " It is time to think of the next generation then the next election". He has driven this message since he was inaugurated. He has used this to justify cuts to public education, Medicaid. Dismantling the civil service system, destroying the department of commerce and now the DNR.
This is what I mean by Bernie Sanders in reverse. The notion that it is you vs the government. His big notion is that " The American dream is not to say I want to grow up to be dependent on the government". He preaches government independence that " We celebrate July 4th, not April 15, because of our independence from the government". This is another populist message that he uses to cut public assistance programs.
Despite having a populist message that resonates with people here is the sad truth they don't want to hear. This notion that he is focused on the next generation then the next election is just not true. All he is focused on is the next election. This notion that he wants to shrink the size of government is also a facade. He wants to shrink the size of government that doesn't benefit him. However, the government can be as big as it wants if it benefits him. Especially when it comes to legislative redistricting.
Do you see an area where he is twisting the populist message around the justify the far right agenda? If so please share in the comments.