You keep using that word...

In his statement on the Democratic victories in the Wisconsin state senate recall elections, Mike Tate, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, had this to say: "Democrats . . . shifted the balance of power in the state Senate away from conservatives. . . . Only now is Walker—who has acted unilaterally to advance a staunchly conservative agenda throughout his Administration—talking about 'bipartisanship.'"

Mike! You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means!

We have conservatives??? In the Wisconsin state senate? Really? Coulda fooled me! You couldn't possibly be referring to Walker and his cronies, because they are anything but "conservatives." I expect, though, that Walker et al. really appreciate your calling them that. No doubt they would like nothing more than for those who truly are conservative among the good people of Wisconsin to believe that they can be numbered among them and will look out for their interests.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., defines "conservatism" as follows: "1 capitalized a: the principles and policies of a Conservative party b: the Conservative party 2a: disposition in politics to preserve what is established b: a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions, and preferring gradual development to abrupt change 3: the tendency to prefer an existing or traditional situation to change"

Don't we wish! Walker and the other power-grabbing, overreaching Republicans in the state legislature have a disposition to destroy what has been established in Wisconsin. They subscribe to a political philosophy that is based on greed and upheaval rather than "tradition or social stability," undermining our established institutions, and forcing abrupt change on the people of Wisconsin.

The unprincipled despots who have turned Wisconsin into Fitzwalkerstan are not conservatives in any sense of the word. Please, call them what they are: radical right-wing demagogues intent on undermining everything that is good about Wisconsin, determined to set themselves and their billionaire masters up as plutocratic feudal lords and to make the good state of Wisconsin into their private fief and its people their serfs, not to mention making this great state a subsidiary of Koch Industries. There is nothing remotely conservative about them or their agenda. They are utterly destructive.