With his singular style, Tom Toles tackles the complex issues of the day. This Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist skillfully targets political, economic and social concerns — in particular complicated environmental issues — with a clear-eyed precision that hits the mark every time.
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Comments (72) (Please sign in to comment)
Justice22 said, about 1 year ago
Well Done, Mr. Toles.
ne7minder55 said, about 1 year ago
sadly true – the politics of envy, fueled with the politicians paid for by the 1% are turning the US into a third world country
Doughfoot said, about 1 year ago
Remember, Scott Walker did not attack or weaken all public employee unions. … Only public employee unions made up largely of Democrats (teachers). The public employee unions made up chiefly of Republicans (police and firefighters) he left alone. The unions were prepared to make concessions, but Walker denied them even the right to choose.
We talk about checks and balances. There was a time when unions (as flawed as they were) provided some check and balance on the power of concentrated money. But Divide and Rule is an ancient maxim now perfected in labor relations. Unions are now definitely weaker than they have been in a century, and the law (i.e. the government) is now the only protection the working man has left. Maybe that will be enough to prevent a return to the abusive practices that the unions were created to correct. But the decline, and immanent fall, of the unions in the US, makes me think of a community that, discovering corruption in the police force and fire department, and noting that there hasn’t been a major crime or fire lately, decides to disband both as no longer necessary.
Or to disband the military after a few years of peace.
But who knows? Maybe Wisconsin will soon find that teachers no longer want to work there, or maybe the US will soon find even fewer able young people to go into teaching, and as teachers become less able, the GOP will be able to more easily justify treating them like dirt.
piobaire said, about 1 year ago
Well said, Doughfoot!
josefw
said, about 1 year ago
@Doughfoot
Remember, Scott Walker did not attack or weaken all public employee unions. … Only public employee unions made up largely of Democrats (teachers). The public employee unions made up chiefly of Republicans (police and firefighters) he left alone.
You are wrong. Did you witness the civil unrest just to change the teachers contracts? Just think if he would have added the Firefighters and Police. PS: The teachers union through their collective bargaining health insurance was sucking $20 to $30K per family per year from the state. ACT 10 changed that saving the state millions.
cdward said, about 1 year ago
@Doughfoot
The death of public education is the goal of Republican policy. Their ideal is private education for those who can afford it, private delivery, private armies, private prisons, private police – we will soon be back in the gilded era – or more likely back in medieval times.
Ms. Ima said, about 1 year ago
Ahhh…. the ghetto is finally felled (for a day). I can smell the sweet smell of freedom. Freedom from the union thugs stealing from paychecks every week.
walruscarver2000 said, about 1 year ago
@Ms. Ima
Col. Potter of MASH also like the smell of horse dung. Glad you’re not alone.
midas welby said, about 1 year ago
@Doughfoot
Excellent commentary Doughfoot, and factual as well. What gets lost in the myopic fascination with single-topic us vs them national "news"coverage is that this recall was about a large number of outrageous power grab events, some of them outside of the law, not just union busting. Ultimately, recall efforts were largely ineffective, but the state did decide to remove Republicans from total control of the government, perhaps bringing some semblance of political dialogue back to the capitol. Progressive government has definitely become a footnote in history for Wisconsin, but civility and working for the good of all may not be dead yet.
GreggW
said, about 1 year ago
Spot on! One less countervailing power for the plutocrats and their apologists to worry about. Too bad that “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” really dropped the ball in their coverage.
Ionizer said, about 1 year ago
@walruscarver2000
“Col. Potter of MASH also like the smell of horse dung. Glad you’re not alone.”
Some of the dung has been removed. Walker kept his campaign promise, and the people of WI just supported him for the second time. Get over yourself.
MurphyHerself said, about 1 year ago
Where are the jobs he promised as a “job creator”?
jack75287 said, about 1 year ago
@Doughfoot
You have some good points but fail to recognize several issues that disprove your statement. 38% of those who worked for Unions voted for Scott Walker in the recall vote. Next over half of the people in Unions left in the past 16 months. Yes and that is Fox news. It is also true.
Most important of all. If issues occur people will start joining the Unions again and their real power their members will come back.
Last an on a different note:
Scott Walker thank you for showing us how to stand up for ourselves.
Harleyquinn
said, about 1 year ago
oh no “capitalism” next up “profits” and oh no where are all the jobs unions think that they are protecting?
Heavy B said, about 1 year ago
@Harleyquinn
Where are all the jobs that walker promised? Wisconsin is 50th in job creation.