Flashback to 2008. We all remember the hope and change a certain senator from Illinois promised us. America rang with chants of “Yes We Can.” He became president and passed his signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act and promised it would make health care more affordable while guaranteeing us we would be able to keep our doctor if we wanted. He passed a stimulus bill that he promised would restore America’s economic stability. Then, 2012 came along — re-election year for the president. He encouraged our country forward. He pleaded that we give his decisions a chance to come to fruition. And we elected him again. 

The decisions of his first term started to manifest themselves as something different than he promised. We found out that, under the Affordable Care Act, we wouldn’t be able to keep our doctors. We found out that it was actually costing people more money than before the law. We saw the chaotic and confusing implementation of the website. We waited for America’s economy to bounce back. Give the stimulus time, he said. Then we were shown by the Congressional Budget Office that the projections for government deficits over the next 10 years would be $7 trillion, while jobs recovered at a frighteningly sluggish rate. Mr. President, we gave your policies time, and America is through. According to an average of major polls, only 39 percent of America is in favor of the health care law he promised would make us better. Those same polls tell us that only 41 percent of people approve of the direction of the economy. Mr. President, only 28 percent of the country thinks our country is headed in the right direction.

Now, Mary Burke, the Democratic candidate for governor, is welcoming the president and first lady to our state to campaign on her behalf. The first lady was in Milwaukee last week and will be in Madison tomorrow. The Democratic Party has also promised that the president will make an appearance in Wisconsin before the Nov. 4 election.

Over the last six years we have seen what policies Democrats plan to implement across the country. The president himself has promised his policies would be on the ballot even though he isn’t. Delivering a speech at Northwestern last week he said, “I’m not on the ballot this fall. Michelle’s pretty happy about that. But make no mistake: These policies are on the ballot, every single one of them.”

Now, some people hope those failed policies will come to this state in the form of Burke. Ms. Burke hasn’t given us any new ideas that she plans to implement. Amidst allegations of plagiarizing her jobs plans, Burke released a campaign ad where she looks into the camera and embraces the fact that she has taken ideas from others. She states that she intends to take ideas from others and use them to make our state better. Here, we have two politicians telling us exactly what they plan on doing in Wisconsin if Burke wins.

My question to the people of Wisconsin is why would you want to see the same policies we’ve seen fail in our country be implemented in our state? The fact that Burke has promised to implement these failed policies makes my decision easy. Ms. Burke isn’t promising us something different. She is promising us the same. There is no trial period that we have to wait for to see if her ideas, I mean borrowed policies, will work. She plans to implement the same policies that lead to only 28 percent of Americans thinking we are headed in the right direction.

The good news is that Burke isn’t our only choice for governor. In fact, we have a governor who has done what he’s promised, and we have been better off from those promises. According to the latest Marquette University law poll, 54 percent of registered voters think Wisconsin is headed in the right direction, and more people think the budget is in better shape now than it was in previous years.

In my mind, this election is an easy decision. There is no “hope” or “change” that is being sold to us. I don’t have to convince you that Burke will embrace the president’s policies. She told us herself that she will. There are two clear choices. One, Burke, who has promised to embrace the president and first lady and their policies; the same policies that we’ve seen fail over the last six years. Or, Gov. Scott Walker, whose polices we’ve seen enacted over the last four years, and whose policies we have directly benefited from. I thank Burke for making our decision easier.

Anthony Birch (communications@gopbadgers) is a junior majoring in political science and strategic communication and is the digital director for the College Republicans