Viewpoint

Wins on justice, education and taxes are only the start of Wisconsinites’ work

By Patrick McIlheran

To win the vote is merely to start the work.  

After the Wisconsin Senate on Wednesday, and the Assembly on Thursday, passed a biennial budget that has both ups and downs — it spends much more taxpayer money, but much less than the metastatic demands of Gov. Tony Evers — Wisconsinites clearly got some wins. 

It is up to Wisconsinites to consolidate and expand those.

Criminal justice: Help and expectations

The budget improves pay for prosecutors and public defenders — a major priority of the Badger Institute. This is necessary: Wisconsin’s pay lagged not only comparable states, it lagged the pay for other competing job options, leading to growing delays in criminal cases as district attorneys’ offices struggled to keep staff. 

This matters. This month, for example...

Analysis

Virtually all Wisconsinites already have internet access. Are fastest speeds now a right?

By Mark Lisheron

When state legislative Republicans pressed the pause button on state taxpayer funding for broadband expansion, they offered an opportunity to reflect on intertwining questions.

When and why did bringing internet access to every home and business in Wisconsin become the sole province of government, rather than the marketing mission of established private internet providers? And is there a case to be made that the cost of the mission is worth the economic, educational and societal goals?

Even a cursory look will tell you the decisive tipping point from private to public was the federal funding hurricane of so-called COVID-19 emergency spending bills. The CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act have pumped $175 million into the state’s broadband program over the past three years. In the four previous years from 2014-17 the total was less than $4 million, according to data collected by the Public Service Commission.

And even without the $750 million Republicans lifted from Gov. Evers’ proposed budget, on Monday, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Wisconsin will get $1.055 billion from the $42.45 billion earmarked in for rural broadband expansion in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Badger on Air

Source: Wisconsin’s Morning News with Meg Ellefson — June 21, 2023

Related: Top three reasons to cut Wisconsin’s top tax rate

Independence Day

The Founding Fathers Wanted you to Pursue Happiness This Weekend

By Mike Nichols

America’s Founding Fathers found it self-evident that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights that include “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  

The inclusion of happiness wasn’t inadvertent. Of the three, it’s happiness alone that is mentioned more than once in the beginning of the Declaration of Independence, in fact.  

We the people, they declared in the third sentence, should organize government in a way most likely to affect our “safety and happiness.”  

Perhaps that’s why John Adams wrote to Abigail on July 3, 1776 that he was “apt to believe” that a “great anniversary festival” celebrated by succeeding generations and commemorating independence would include “pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

Interestingly, Adams thought the big celebration would occur on July 2, the date the Resolution for Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress. It wasn’t until two days later, of course, that the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence — which basically explained the need for the resolution that had already been passed.  

No matter. That just means, I think, Adams wanted us to expand our pursuit of happiness. Attend a parade. Light a bonfire. Illuminate our exceptional country for the whole world to see. Start a couple days early and do what makes you happy. Celebrate.

The Founding Fathers wanted you to.

At a Glance

EdChoice analyzed all of the empirical studies of U.S. voucher, tax-credit scholarship and education savings account programs to date. The report quantifies the overwhelmingly positive effects of education freedom for American families.

Badger Events

Save the date

Mark your calendar for Tuesday, October 3rd as we welcome keynote speaker Mike Gallagher, U.S. representative for Wisconsin's 8th congressional district and Chairman of The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

Weekly Survey: Should taxpayer funds be used to expand broadband internet access in Wisconsin?

Previous Poll Results:

What We’re Reading

• Justice Clarence Thomas: Concurring: Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College

• City Journal: Law, Betrayed

• Angela Rachidi: SNAP Can Improve Nutrition, Help Farmers, and Support the Environment

• WILL: Breaking the Chain: Decoupling School Choice Funding in Wisconsin

• Wall Street Journal: Wisconsin Ups the Voucher Ante (paywall)

• Scott Niederjohn: Don't let 'C' in NASCAR stand for cronyism in Chicago (paywall)

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