HERE'S A question for you. Which state has a leader who keeps saying “our state is broke”?
As part of this leader’s strategy to sort out the debt, he focuses on the pay and conditions of state employees, including limiting collective bargaining rights for employees.
His government cuts staff spending in schools and technical education, and freezes programs to keep the elderly out of nursing homes.
Thinks it’s your state, Queenslanders? Guess again.
The state is Wisconsin in the USA, and the state leader is Governor Scott Walker.
Once again, the rhetoric and framework of ideas in Australian politics has been pinched from our friends the Americans.
Governor Scott Walker has been using these themes longer than Premier Campbell Newman. In Walker’s budget speech from March last year he said:
I’m not writing this blog post to pass judgement on LNP policies. I am an ALP member, and I have strong views on what is happening.
The point in this post is about political language and the mental frameworks they are meant to evoke.
The cries of “goodness, we’re broke!” is not a spontaneous reaction. It is a considered political response using political language and frames of reference that have been proven to work elsewhere.
Need convincing? Have a good read though of Scott Walker’s speech in March 2011 and see if you recognise any of the language.
Our political parties have been tapping into the latest thinking and techniques from the USA for a while now. Both parties send a small stream of bright people over to US elections to watch and learn.
The pattern for the pushback against the LNP’s budget cutbacks will come from US as well. Queenslanders will not be surprised to hear that there has been a massive union reaction against Governor Scott Walker’s policies.
In June there was a recall election in Wisconsin: one of vagaries of American politics is that if enough people can sign a petition saying “um, we’ve changed our minds … ”, the governor goes to election again.
The recall election was prosecuted by a grass roots union campaign, but was successfully defeated by Governor Walker. My guess is we will see the themes and rhetoric from that campaign in Queensland soon.
For a sneak peak at the languages and ideas that will be used by the unions and the ALP, go the website of the Wisconsin Democrats.
And if you are one of the stream of political workers who is shipping over to the States for the Presidential election in November, please bring me back an Obama wobble-head doll.
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As part of this leader’s strategy to sort out the debt, he focuses on the pay and conditions of state employees, including limiting collective bargaining rights for employees.
His government cuts staff spending in schools and technical education, and freezes programs to keep the elderly out of nursing homes.
Thinks it’s your state, Queenslanders? Guess again.
The state is Wisconsin in the USA, and the state leader is Governor Scott Walker.
Once again, the rhetoric and framework of ideas in Australian politics has been pinched from our friends the Americans.
 |
| Governor Scott Walker at his victory party. Photo AP. |
“The facts are clear: Wisconsin is broke and it’s time to start paying our bills today – so our kids are not stuck with even bigger bills tomorrow…. [The] time has come for us to make the tough choices necessary to put our state back on the path to prosperity.”It’s a theme that must be working for him, because he’s sticking to it. Here is what he said in a more recent fund raising email:
“We must work together to bring our spending in line with reality. We were elected --not to make the easy decisions to benefit ourselves -- but to make the difficult ones that will benefit our children and grandchildren.”
“Spending is too high, our business climate isn’t what it should be and … voters gave me a mandate to turn our great state around.”As Yogi Berra said, it’s deja-vu all over again.
I’m not writing this blog post to pass judgement on LNP policies. I am an ALP member, and I have strong views on what is happening.
The point in this post is about political language and the mental frameworks they are meant to evoke.
The cries of “goodness, we’re broke!” is not a spontaneous reaction. It is a considered political response using political language and frames of reference that have been proven to work elsewhere.
Need convincing? Have a good read though of Scott Walker’s speech in March 2011 and see if you recognise any of the language.
 |
| Expect to see more campaign material like this in Queensland soon. |
Our political parties have been tapping into the latest thinking and techniques from the USA for a while now. Both parties send a small stream of bright people over to US elections to watch and learn.
The pattern for the pushback against the LNP’s budget cutbacks will come from US as well. Queenslanders will not be surprised to hear that there has been a massive union reaction against Governor Scott Walker’s policies.
In June there was a recall election in Wisconsin: one of vagaries of American politics is that if enough people can sign a petition saying “um, we’ve changed our minds … ”, the governor goes to election again.
The recall election was prosecuted by a grass roots union campaign, but was successfully defeated by Governor Walker. My guess is we will see the themes and rhetoric from that campaign in Queensland soon.
 |
| From the Wisconsin Democrats website. |
And if you are one of the stream of political workers who is shipping over to the States for the Presidential election in November, please bring me back an Obama wobble-head doll.
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