This is not the post I had planned for tonight. And, this was not the election result I expected tonight, either. But here we are, with a Regressive governor elected, and the chop-licking has already begun.
So, now that we’ve opened Door #3, what have we won?
::
The dismantling of Kynect, throwing tens of thousands of Kentuckians off the rolls and taking away their health insurance.
The passing of Right to Freeload, thus destroying unions and beginning a race to the bottom for wages, while at the same time giving even more power to corporate overlords.
The repeal of the prevailing wage law, so that we can race to the bottom even faster.
The shunting of taxpayer money to charter schools and the destruction of public education.
The slashing of funding for Head Start and early childhood education, programs to help the poor, programs for job training, programs to help anyone who isn’t part of the power base.
Continued attacks on the environment and the loosening of environmental regulations, including reducing the budgets of any regulatory agencies.
The end of the teachers pension program, forcing teachers to give up their pensions and adopt 401k programs AND join Social Security, thus cutting their pay even further. But it won’t matter, since we want all those overpaid teachers to leave anyway so we can give the money to the church school on the corner with the non-certified staff.
The reinstatement of institutionalized bigotry, by allowing county clerks to refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay people. What Supreme Court?
And of course, a lump of coal in everyone’s stocking, so you can join our leaders in kissing it.
::
Is this a worst-case scenario? Of course. (At least I HOPE it’s the worst case.) But let’s be clear: every one of these outcomes has been discussed and proposed. Of course, they won’t be stated this way, this bluntly. There will be professionally-written spin pieces, and Bevin and the other Regressives will put the best face on it they can.
But trust me — the knives are being sharpened even as you read this, and the only thing standing in the way is the House. And they won’t be able to stop all of it, because not all of it is legislative.
So here you go, Kentucky — welcome to Regressive World. Let’s see how you like it.
(And progressives? We have our work cut out for us. Let’s get to it.)
— 30 —
Photo by whatleydude 
Comments
