This November, Wisconsin faces one of the most important decisions in its history: sticking with Scott Walker’s failed policies and divisive politics or electing Mary Burke, a proven leader with a track record of bringing people together to get things done. As usual, the student vote will play a major role in shaping the direction of this state.
Simply put, no group has more to gain from electing Mary Burke this fall. That’s why it’s incredibly important that we University of Wisconsin students turn out to vote and make our voices heard this November.
Gov. Scott Walker’s economic policies have left Wisconsin far behind our Midwestern neighbors in job growth. As it stands today, Wisconsin is dead last in the Midwest in job creation. That’s very bad news for all new Badger graduates in the class of 2014 struggling to find jobs in Scott Walker’s economy. To put that in perspective, if the Badger football team were consistently in last place in the Big Ten, we would fire our coach. It’s about time Wisconsin fired Scott Walker.
Furthermore, not only are our neighbors to the west experiencing faster job growth than us, those jobs pay better as well. In fact, the average Minnesotan makes around $5,000 more per year than the average Wisconsin worker! That’s almost a semester’s worth of in-state tuition.
Speaking of tuition, Scott Walker’s policies are going to make college much more expensive over the next few years. Right now, Wisconsin ranks 10th in the nation in terms of number of college students in debt. Instead of finding a long-term solution, Scott Walker slashed funding for the UW System by $250 million in his first budget. Those unprecedented budget cuts, coupled with a two-year tuition freeze in the latest budget, means tuition across the UW System will likely skyrocket in the next few years. That rise in tuition is going to hit the class of 2018 especially hard.
Conversely, Democrat Mary Burke has proposed real, long-term solutions to make college affordable and create jobs for new graduates and hardworking people all across Wisconsin. Unlike Scott Walker, Mary Burke isn’t a career politician. She’s spent much of her life in the private sector creating jobs for Wisconsinites as an executive at Trek Bicycle. She also serves on the Madison school board and knows firsthand the importance of a well-funded public education system.
Central to Mary’s plan to get Wisconsin working again is a reversal of Scott Walker’s cuts to K-12 and higher education. As governor, she would increase funding for student financial aid and implement policies designed to make student loan debt more manageable. That includes a plan to allow student loan holders to refinance their loans and a plan to make student loan payments tax deductible. All the money students will save will go back into our economy.
Mary Burke would also finally end Scott Walker’s war on women. Over the past four years, Scott Walker repealed Wisconsin’s law guaranteeing that women are paid as much as men for the same work and signed legislation forcing women to submit to an invasive and medically unnecessary ultrasounds before an abortion. He has also cut state funding for Planned Parenthood, where thousands of Wisconsin women go for birth control, cancer screenings and many other important health care services. On the other hand, Mary Burke has an endorsement from Planned Parenthood and believes women and their doctors should make their health care decisions, not the government.
Additionally, Mary Burke strongly believes every Wisconsinite should be free to marry the person they love. She supports a complete repeal of Wisconsin’s marriage equality ban, unlike state Republicans. It’s about time Wisconsin joins all of our neighbors in the 21st century.
When it comes down to it, the choice for young people is clear: Mary Burke is the best candidate to move Wisconsin forward in 2014. However, we can only give Wisconsin the leadership it deserves if students turn out to vote come Nov. 4. Gov. Walker realizes this, which explains why he has passed so many bills making it more difficult for young people to vote, including a bill eliminating weekend early voting and restricting it from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. when students are at class or work. Nevertheless, the College Democrats of UW-Madison are committed to Mary’s vision for the state and will register students to vote.
We invite you to get involved with us this fall — check out our Facebook page and our booth at the student org fair Sept. 10 and 11. Together, we can elect Mary Burke and move Wisconsin forward!
