The disdain for ordinary working stiffs shown by Republican politicians in general and the new crop of Republican governors in particular seems boundless. And, of course, is shortsighted, which is why union-busting Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Chris Christie in New Jersey will serve single terms and then get the boot.
I have a sense of deja vu all over again in reading that Maine Governor Paul LePage, a Tea Party Republican, has ordered the removal of a 36-foot mural from the state’s Department of Labor because he believes it to not be sufficiently pro-business. This is because people in high places repeatedly did the same thing with public-works project murals during the Great Depression because they honored the poor working stiff, had allegedly Commie themes or were done by furriners.
There is some irony in LePage’s actions. He is a Franco-American in a state where Franco-Americans have long been honored for their contributions to the state’s economy, and his wife once was a union shop steward.
That the mural will be moved to Maine’s state museum is beside the point. To assert, as LePage does, that the artwork is “one-sided decor” not in keeping with the department’s pro-business goals is deeply offensive. As is renaming the labor department’s conference rooms, one of which is named for Cesar Chavez, the labor and civil rights leader.
Maine artist Judy Taylor, who was given a state grant to paint the mural, says that “There was never any intention to be pro-labor or anti-labor. It was a pure depiction of the facts.”
“How can you say history is one sided?,” she asks.
Good question.
Meanwhile, down in the Garden State, corpulent Governor Chris Christie continues a budget-cutting slash and burn that targets teachers, police officers and firemen while sparing the state’s huge wealthy elite from having to shoulder any of the burden, let alone raising the state’s gasoline tax, which is the second lowest in the U.S. and hasn’t been raised since Ronald Reagan was the alpha Republican dog. This, of course, is why he is a darling of Republicans nationally.
So deep have the cuts been in New Jersey public school system that a state Superior Court judge ruled this week that schools are no longer able to provide students the “thorough and efficient” education required by the state constitution. Given Christie’s modus operandi, it is no surprise that the judge found that the reductions “fell more heavily upon our high-risk districts and the children educated within those districts.”