Our great state of Wisconsin has long been known as the greatest progressive state in the Union. We have led the way on many important social issues, not only in this country, but also around the world. Unfortunately, we have abandoned our standards. Our state is becoming stagnant on many issues. It is time that we look back at our progressive history and once again take up our tradition as a state that makes history
Our great state was one of the first in the Union to ban the death penalty. Since the formation of our state, we have looked upon the death penalty as something that hindered our progress-oriented growth. But in recent times we are now questioning our own progressive idea. We cannot allow the death penalty to return. If I am elected, I will never vote for the death penalty, or anything that would allow its restoration.
We have also been extremely progressive in our educational system. The best thing Wisconsin has to offer to its families is our system of public education. That system has surpassed those of many other states for decades. But lately we have watched that system plummet, especially in our metropolitan areas, such as Milwaukee. Over the past few years, we have seen Milwaukee fall farther and farther behind the rest of the state in attendance and graduation rates; the latter has been less than 50% for the past three years. The only way we can improve is by electing people to office who care about our education system and realize its full potential.
Educational institutions cannot perform to their highest ability without the proper resources. The schools that are falling behind the most need to be center of an educational rejuvenation. Some schools do not even have the basic necessities for conducting class: broken desks and chairs, outdated textbooks, small classrooms, and even in some cases, schools have no light bulbs. Updating our school system needs to be a priority of our government, and I will try my hardest to make it so.
Education can save the future. Children are the people who deserve the best from us and we have the responsibility to give it to them so they may have the best possible future. Therefore, it is time that our schools become the focal point of our communities once again. Schools have the ability and the responsibility to take care of their surrounding communities.
Community-that word is a resounding sign of hope for Wisconsin. We, the people of this state, know better than anyone else that our state is the place where people can truly come together to get things done and to get them done in a progressive and unique way. However, since the late 1950s there has been something that is harming our ability to make our communities come together and grow as we have in the past.
When General Motors decided to buy the Milwaukee County Transit Authority in the 50s we were told that nothing would change and that the system would actually grow. Little did we know the buyout was only an attempt at selling more cars to a larger audience.
Milwaukee, up until about 1958, had the most comprehensive and technologically advanced mass transportation system out of near any place in the world. While we did not have a subway system as New York did, we had rail lines, busses, trolleys and street cars. We had lines that went all the way out to Madison, south to Chicago and North to Fond du Lac. My grandparents have told me many times how amazing and easy it was to use the old lines. Today though, those lines are just memories and track beneath the asphalt that covers them. Sometimes, when we are lucky, we can catch a glimpse of the old rail tracks that are uncovered from construction on the old Milwaukee Streets.
In a modern world it is imperative that we have a mass transit system that works for its people and also works for its communities. Wisconsin has the ability to be connected. At one point in time, as mentioned before, we were well on our way to becoming connected through our transportation. With a new system being put in place through our metropolitan areas, such as Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Eau Claire and La Crosse our state will be what it has the potential to be: a true community.
When Wisconsin will eventually be connected by our transit we can actually realize what we can really do with our schools, our neighborhoods, law enforcement, business and our standard on the environment.
It has long been said that the key to a community working and surviving is its transportation that it offers. I cannot agree more. We can no longer allow the failure of the government to let this go unseen. While those rail tracks sit beneath the concrete and asphalt we have people driving their cars, wasting gas and money that they could save through mass transit. While those old stops on the circle line have been turned into shops we are allowing our children to have only one mode of transportation to get to school. While there is only one trolley left in Milwaukee that runs, for three months out of the year, our communities have fallen divided by differences that our borders of transportation created.
But there is something good that can come of this. We, as a state, can rise above these challenges and save that gas, and our money. We, as a state, can assure that our children are getting to school. We, as a people, can make sure that our differences are smashed apart by a light-rail car, rolling down the tracks, directly into the wall of those invisible borders. Wisconsin is a community; we have to get to a point again where we can be a connected one.
In that community, though, we have one of the most pressing issues of our time; it is an issue that is interconnected to all of the above mentioned points. Healthcare has been a prominent focus in many campaigns, and also has been a prominent problem in people’s lives.
Due to the rising cost of living and the rising cost of education and everything else of monetary value, it is becoming impossible for people to afford their healthcare. I have travelled to many places in this state where I meet people who are having troubles paying health insurance bills, or even just trying to attain health insurance. My friend Mike, a good citizen that votes and works for his living is unable to have health insurance for a year interim period at his place of employment. While he does not have health insurance he remains vulnerable to the kinds of illnesses that you and I are. He remains susceptible to the exact kind of accidents that you and I see and experience every day.
This is a problem. When people cannot make sure that they can be covered for their health, what do they have to count on? In Wisconsin we have recently expanded Badger Care. Single citizens who are unable or not eligible for health insurance can now be covered by the state for Badger Care up until the age of 65. While this is a step in the right direction it does not go far enough.
Badger Care and Medicaid have taken care of some of the people who are very near and dear to me. I was in Madison a little while ago advocating the continuation and expansion of funding for Medicaid and Badger Care recently where I spoke to many people whose medication costs them upwards of $1,000,000 per year. This is wrong. This is so utterly wrong that it is, most times, hard for me to believe that we allow this to go on.
Wisconsin is rated as having the second best health care plan in the nation. But I say this: why not attempt a shot at first place by making universal coverage in Wisconsin a reality? In Wisconsin it is vital that we come together as a community, as a people to make sure that every single human being has their health and is allowed to keep their health no matter what. It is a human right. If I am elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly I will make it my first priority to present legislation to ensure that every single person in Wisconsin is covered for their health care needs.
Wisconsin, I come to you with hope in my heart, let’s realize this: We are Wisconsin. We are, and always will have our history to look upon as a jumping point to a new progressive era. Universal healthcare, an education system that works for our students, parents and community, mass transportation, and a respectable justice system that disallows cruel punishment are all possible and realistic things. It seems idealistic, but when we come together to do things as human beings we are capable of getting anything done in a manner of civility and respect.
I think we’ve waited long enough, Wisconsin. Let’s get back to it. Let’s show the rest of the nation, the rest of the world that we are going to bring back progress.
