The 2009 legislative session that begins this month will be different from recent sessions in one big way. For the first time since 1994 Democrats, and not Republicans, will control the State Assembly.
But in other significant ways, the session will be very similar to 2007. And that means in all likelihood, major policy changes will reflect a moderate, pragmatic tone.
The latest news out of the State Budget Office confirmed what most state government observers have feared for some time. Wisconsin is facing its most serious budget deficit on record.
Like their counterparts in Washington, state policy makers confront serious choices as they manage Wisconsin’s fiscal house.
Like other crises, financial difficulties can be defining. For it is the choices we make when faced with hard decisions that define who we are and say more about what we value. It is at such times that we are in greatest need of principles and values to guide our judgment and clarify our vision.
Recently a pro-stem cell research group, Wisconsin Stem Cell Now, published a “primer” on the subject of stem cell research in Wisconsin. Among other things, the document seeks to dismiss moral arguments against embryonic stem cell research.
In the process, the authors misrepresent the relationship between ethics and morals, equate morality with religion, and define moral argument in a way that would have disqualified some of our nation’s most significant voices for reform from public debates.
