My in-laws and I often don't see eye to eye when it comes to politics. Just this weekend, our Father's Day celebrations were set on edge: I mentioned that my brother lives in DC, where he's fortunate enough to be only two Metro stops from his job. Suddenly this turned into a conversation about mass transit, and things go downhill from there.
I blame Governor Walker. For those of you from out of state: When our blue state turned red after the last election cycle, he rode in (on a slight majority) and declared himself king. The Republicans had captured both houses of the state legislature, and after taking a back seat to the Democrats for several years, they were hopping mad. Whatever you think of Walker's policies, there's little debate that his style has created political divisions in this state the likes of which have not been seen for a long, long time. And with recall elections - and the balance in the legislature possibly about to shift - the atmosphere isn't going to change for a while.
It's not just my in-laws: I've had some disagreements with my own father, who seems to have fallen in love with the tea party loons. This month's current theme is how Obama wants gasoline prices to rise to $10 a gallon. Of course, that's not going to happen, because Exxon will draw the line when they run out of warehouse space for the bundles of cash they'd need to store. Dad's rooting for Bachmann, although I suspect that's because he's partial to her German-sounding name.
Of course, the common denominator here is... me. I helped with the Democratic campaign last fall, and I burned out after the losses we suffered. I've slowly gotten back into it, and I've definitely reacted to the rancor in the air. I try not to start political arguments, but I've no problem with keeping one going.
But something extraordinary happened on Father's Day. I like beer, particularly craft beers, and I am fortunate to live in a state that seems to prize beer. So when it came to light that the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee had slipped a controversial provision into the proposed state budget that would hurt small breweries (in an apparent effort to help a single large brewer), I was both pissed off... and filled with glee. (Think of how this is going to play in the recall efforts!) My father-in-law, who also appreciates a good beer, agreed wholeheartedly.
Here's the scary part: Walker's line-item veto power gives him a lot of leeway to rewite the budget bill, and given his history of selling out to big business, it's hard to say which way he'll go with this. But if nothing else, there's a glimmer of hope for the future, as a coalition of Republicans and Democrats has petitioned Walker to drop this provision.
Now, if you could buy a beer on a county bus, then maybe mass transit would be an easier sell. Wait - what's this?
