One might ask why should one worry about the comments from a US Senate Candidate from Wisconsin on a national level. The answer is simple. They help shape policy and in a Senate that is already skewed to the Right, inasmuch as it has a Democratic majority, it is of major importance.
From Huffington Post: Amanda Terkel aterkel@huffingtonpost.com
Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde (R) says he is sick and tired of reading sad stories about people struggling in the recession. Instead, he wants to see the media focus more on the debt and the larger problems afflicting the country.
Hovde made his remarks during a presentation on Friday to the Greater Brookfield Chamber of Commerce.
During the Q&A portion of the event, Hovde expressed his support for lowering the corporate tax rate, tackling the country’s spending problems and lowering the national debt.
Then, pointing to a reporter in the audience, Hovde said he would love to see the press stop covering sad stories about low-income individuals who can’t get benefits and start covering issues like the deficit more frequently.
It is ironic that Republican Senate Candidate Eric Hovde would give this speech and utter these words at one of our nations many Chambers of Commerce. Businesses organize in order to protect its interest. Yet, in Wisconsin, their governor, Scott Walker has instituted many anti-union policies including the elimination of collective bargaining for public sector workers.
I have long said that the Chamber of Commerce is simply an organized union for businesses. With their ownership of politicians they have allowed the institution of laws against unions. With their ownership of the media they have misinformed to such a degree that in Wisconsin 37%+ of union members voted to support Scott Walker, the governor attempting to remove collective bargaining from the state.
I live in Texas, a right to work state where unions are weak. The wage scale, poverty, and wealth disparity here is something that should be getting a lot of press as this state is a microcosm of laissez faire crony capitalism where wages for the middle class are low, 25%+ of the population has no health insurance, pollution is rampant in places like the Houston Ship Channel and throughout the Gulf Coast, and back door deals to privatized public roads and bridges abound.
What many of these Right Wing politicians say behind closed doors are much more important than what they say when the mainstream media cameras are on because one gets to see the philosophy they intend to govern by. It is for these reasons that these types of candidate information are important. The poor do not have a voice. The middle class is losing its voice. It is up to us to ensure their voices are heard. It is up to us to disinfect our body politic from those who have sold their souls to our growing plutocracy.