If you have differing views from these positions, we welcome
hearing from you. We might not agree but
we will take note of your good faith views.
You may also be interested to read the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Platform.
Reproductive Rights
Today’s evangelical religious challenge to reproductive rights rings a bell to
women who are old enough to have gone through the struggle for women’s health
care that took place in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Back in the ‘Good Old Days’, a
woman couldn’t try her hand at sports other than cheerleading, buy a car
without her husband’s signature or lead a team at work.
It has taken decades of incremental progress to get to a
point point where 15 million people watch a women’s college basketball game and
women hold the majority of slots in medical and law schools.
The wage gap might still be 16%, but back then it was 40%.
It has been a long and wearisome road and no woman wishes to repeat it. We’re not going back to a quieter voice, to
less opportunity and even less reward. We’re not going back to an age without
birth control, to an age when it was “my body, my problem”, but never “my
choice”.
This is a free country, or is supposed to be, but it’s a
hollow claim when half the voters don’t have the freedom, the “agency”,
reserved for the other half.
It is also a problem that crosses political lines, with 70% of voters favoring
a solution that is neither far left or right.
Any talk denigrating women who want to have a political and
cultural voice equal to men’s voices is not what the Rusk County Democratic Party
will condone.
Immigration & the Southern Border
Immigration is a large, complex and multifaceted issue, with no easy solution
to balance the needs of the many parties to the problem while respecting the
humanity of those who seek to immigrate.
One problem stands out: the massive pressure at the southern
border, where there are simply not enough resources, on all levels, to deal
with immense numbers of immigrants.
In February 2024, Donald Trump forced Senate and House Republicans to abandon
the bipartisan border solution they had negotiated with Democrats. The bill
would have vastly increased the federal immigrant processing apparatus, greatly
reduced the wait time for adjudication of refugee claims and sped the process
for returning ineligible claimants to their home country.
The Rusk County Wi Democratic Party wants to have safe
borders and believes the way to achieve this goal is by channeling the flow of
immigrants.
There are many farms in Rusk County that would use immigrant
labor if there were a safe, legal way of bringing in immigrants either for short
term or long term stays in the US.
Anyone who has ever tried to deal with a flood knows that it
cannot be done by batting at the water and believing that its entry can be
totally denied, especially when the area that is battling the flood needs the
water.
The same is true with a flood of immigrants. We in the US can use immigrant labor. We need immigrant labor. We CAN work out ways to have immigrant labor
without drowning in a sea of immigrants. The first step in bringing this about
is to realize that we cannot in good conscience or in good economic practice
shut off all immigration. The next step would be to re-vitalize the above-mentioned
bi-partisan immigration bill.
Rural Wisconsin now pays the price for continued state Republican obstruction
of ACA (Obamacare) benefits. Two Chippewa Valley hospitals operated by the
Catholic Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother and a large network of associated
Previa Clinics closed in early Spring 2024. The ACA provided Medicaid benefits to
uninsured folks with marginal jobs in food service, health care, and retail
with incomes too “high” to qualify for standard Medicaid.
Not in Wisconsin, not where a Republican legislature
believes more in “trickle down” than support for the demand side, the patient
side, of the health care economy. An expanded Medicaid would have made a difference
for those now closed hospitals and clinics if their unreimbursed charity care
had been underwritten by the ACA.
The new Budget Bill goes beyond attacking the ACA itself. Yet
ACA insurance is popular, affordable, and important for the safety and security
of families. Attacks on the ACA parallel Republican attacks on Medicare (and
Social Security). Preserving these programs depends on vigorous public support
as well as Democrats in office.
The Earth is warming at a rate nearly 70 times faster than it did during
natural warming periods of the past. This
is a serious problem. More serious than the warming is that many Americans are
unaware or misinformed about climate change; less than half of Americans see
global warming as a threat to them.
When a planet or a satellite (such as our Moon) does not have an atmosphere,
the heat energy it receives from the Sun is lost almost immediately. Our
atmosphere on the other hand absorbs and holds heat near the Earth’s surface;
the Earth is therefore a warm and hospitable place where life can exist. The
gases in the atmosphere that absorb and hold heat are large gas molecules, greenhouse
gases. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane are all greenhouse gases. The
warming that is occurring is caused by an increase in the amount of greenhouse
gases, especially carbon dioxide.
When fossil fuels are burned, the carbon that is released as carbon dioxide has
been underground in oil or coal for millions of years. Now it is entering the
atmosphere as a greenhouse gas that absorbs heat and warms the Earth. In the
year 1790, when the use of fossil fuels expanded with the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution, the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 280 ppm; in 2024
the count was 422 ppm.
If all citizens do not make the issue of climate change a priority soon, future
generations of humans will face problems that are inconceivable in seriousness.
For more information visit 350.org.
Frac sand, characteristically hard and round, was deposited by a shallow sea
nearly 500 million years ago. The word frac comes from hydraulic fracturing, a
process petroleum companies use to free trapped natural gas along with oil from
depleted wells; frac sand is mined in Wisconsin and Minnesota and used in oil
fields around the country. While hydrofracking has increased production of
domestic energy, it also perpetuates the illusion that energy from fossil fuels
will last forever. Humanity must soon abandon the use of fossil fuels if we
hope to avert the devastating effects of climate change. Hydrofracking enables the continued use of
fossil fuels and releases methane, the most potent of greenhouse gases, into
the atmosphere.
The frac sand industry should be closely regulated to protect groundwater and
air quality locally, as well as where hydrofracking occurs. We also need to
ensure that economic benefits are shared fairly with local stakeholders as well
as multinational corporations. Today we see permanent alterations to our
landscape and collusion between mining companies and the state government with
attempts to erode local control over protection of natural resources,
transportation, zoning, and more.
We, the Democratic Party of Rusk County believe that Americans should not be
working to further develop fossil fuels but should be developing carbon-free
alternative energy sources. All citizens, regardless of political affiliation,
must consider not just the short-term economic gains, but also long-term
impacts of continued use of fossil fuels. It is future generations that will
reap the benefits or the consequences of our decisions.
Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ)
Rights
The Democratic Party of Rusk County holds the view that lesbian, gay, bi-sexual,
transgender and queer citizens should be afforded the same rights as straight
people, without exception.
Post-Secondary Education
Rusk County is fortunate to have efficiently managed, low cost, high quality
technical and liberal arts education, conveniently located nearby, UWEC-Barron County and Northwood
Tech are excellent institutions that bring to life one of our most
important American values. Every one of
us, regardless of wealth, should have the chance to learn the skills needed for
a bright future, without being ransomed for decades to bank loans. Education
must provide for the entire spectrum of life and career goals whether that be
immediate job training, a two year diploma, a bachelor¹s degree, or a portal to
post-graduate education and professional certification.
Public Education
Public education is an investment in the foundation of a democratic society.
Our public schools are the heart and soul of our communities and serve all
students and their families. Wisconsin’s legacy of supporting opportunity for
its citizens is best realized when we adequately fund high quality K-12
education and staff our public schools with fully certified, highly qualified
professionals. We submit that our schools are not currently being adequately
funded by our state legislature and that adequate funding must be restored and
current certification requirements must be maintained.
We applaud small and large businesses that seek to ensure that employees have
adequate work hours, fair wages, decent work conditions, and the respect of
good managers. Employees need benefits including paid time off and paid family
leave. We support the right of workers to organize and use the tools of effective
unions.
