Weekly Review - May 20, 2025

Four Lakes Voices is a free online publication diving into Dane County, Wisconsin, and National politics. Please share with your friends!

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Publication Manager & Editor Four Lakes Voices
May 20, 2025

Articles In This Issue

Votes Left Behind

Dave Ripp, Former Dane County Supervisor - May 19 2025

Everyone who runs for office gets questionnaires to fill out. Mostly they come from liberal organizations with slanted questions. As we read the questions, it is obvious they don't want to hear our answers. Reaction is to toss in the recycle bin.

Questionnaires that come from organizations like Progressive Dane, who are looking for the most liberal candidate to endorse, are a waste of our time. Others are a different type and not filling them out loses us votes. 

When Good Ideas Go Too Far: How We Find the Path Back to Shared Values and Goals

Rebecca Witherspoon, Village of DeForest Trustee - May 6, 2025

What began as a genuine and compassionate effort to confront racism, inequality, and historical injustice—an essential call for fairness, dignity, and human rights—has, in many cases, evolved into something far more rigid and divisive. What began as a movement grounded in the ideals of civil rights and inclusion has given rise to a dogmatic set of ideological beliefs that demand conformity, silence dissent, and often punish those who dare to disagree. The transformation into “woke” activism, particularly in its more extreme forms, has created a landscape where ideological purity is enforced and the very notion of justice has been redefined through a narrow and unforgiving lens.

The Ugly Truth About the "Big Beautiful Bill"

Senator Ron Johnson - May 12, 2025

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” that Congress is working on is certainly big, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Too often the reality of these budget debates gets obscured in details, politically charged issues and demagoguery. Let me attempt to clarify the current discussion by focusing on the most important facts and numbers.

In fiscal 2019, federal outlays totaled $4.45 trillion, or 20.6% of gross domestic product. This year, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s January 2025 projection, total outlays will be $7.03 trillion, or 23.3% of GDP. That’s a 58% increase over six years. The CBO projects federal outlays will total $89.3 trillion across fiscal 2026-35. Much of the blame goes to pandemic spending, but lockdowns are long over. There’s nothing now to justify this abnormal level of government spending. Pathetically, Congress is having a hard time agreeing on a reduction of even $1.5 trillion from that 10-year amount. That’s a 1.68% cut—a little more than a rounding error. My guess is that much of that minuscule decrease will be backloaded to the end of the 10 years for which Congress is now budgeting, increasing the probability those savings will never be realized.