Debt Ceiling Deal, Tea Party Economics, & Wisconsin

A message from People for the American Way (PFAW):
This past weekend, Tea Party Republicans held hostage America's economy as well as our international standing. Although debt default was averted, the crisis did not end with the hostages walking away unharmed. The final deal seeks to achieve deficit reduction on the backs of the poor and the working class with extreme cuts, asking for no shared sacrifice by those who control the vast bulk of our nation's wealth. 

We saw this coming. In states like Wisconsin, Ohio and others across the country, budget battles going back to as early as February foreshadowed the reckless hard line we just saw the Tea Party take over the debt ceiling. At the same time state officials were launching their assault on public employees and workers' rights, these same right-wing governors and legislators were passing state budgets with devastating, draconian cuts to health care, education and more. 

In one state where all these things happened, we have a chance, six days from today, to STOP the onslaught and say "No!" in a way that will resonate across the country. 

Instead of right-wing attacks on working families foreshadowing what will happen in Washington, let OUR VICTORY in the Wisconsin recalls on August 9 set the stage for the major electoral victories we need to win later in 2011 and in 2012. 

We can do this ... because we must do this. The Tea Party-created debt limit crisis was yet another reminder of how high the stakes are ... and how high they continue to be. 

So many of you have given time, energy and money to PFAW's Recall the Right campaign to take back the Wisconsin Senate from the Far Right and turn the tide nationally against Tea Party economics. THANK YOU. 

The debt deal and the crisis from which it was born reveal the dysfunction of our political culture. The right-wing Republican positions on taxation, spending and deficits -- which unfortunately have set the agenda this last year -- have absolutely nothing to do with sound economics ... and everything to do with a dogged commitment to extreme right-wing orthodoxy and making the government, at every level, subservient to powerful corporate interests. 

We're in a battle for the soul of our country, and we progressives must be America's conscience.

Defeat cannot be an option ... we're on a dangerous path towards being a country that ignores science, history and economics, and adopts policies based only on long-disproved right-wing ideological myths like "trickle down economics" and "reducing deficits is more important than job creation." 

Winning in Wisconsin is the first step. We'll do it with your help. 

Sincerely,

Michael Keegan, President