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What to Expect

by Amy Lewis

This week’s radio commentary:

Wisconsin Family Connection –
Week of May 9, 2011, – #887 – “What to Expect”

We’ve have definitely had our share of uncertain and highly unusual times here in Wisconsin of late. I wish I could say that things will clear up soon and we’ll be back to some semblance of normal in politics and government. Unfortunately, I can’t promise you that.

The current administration and legislative majority were elected in November last year on a wave of dissatisfaction with government. Voters expected their newly elected officials to work hard to create a better business and jobs atmosphere in Wisconsin, to be accountable and honest, to uphold and protect their liberties.

None of us expected to be facing a bevy of recall elections, a statewide Supreme Court election recount, massive protests at the Capitol, 14 Senators leaving the state for 3 weeks, and an extremely tense political landscape.

Here’s a sampling of what’s going on right now in your Capital City and across the state. The State Assembly is set to go back on the floor again this week and it’s likely the State Senate will as well. The Assembly will vote on several bills related to the Department of Natural Resources and several others that expand and extend the Milwaukee Parental School Choice Program.

The Assembly could also take up the Voter ID bill. The Senate passed Voter ID several months ago while the Senate Democrats were living in self-imposed exile in Illinois.  However, the Republicans could not take the final vote on the bill because it had a fiscal impact and they needed that 20-member quorum to vote on it.

The Voter ID bill would require citizens to present a valid photo ID to vote and also makes some changes to absentee voting and military and overseas voting. During the Assembly Committee public hearing on the bill last month, college students turned out to testify against the original bill’s prohibition against the use of college ID’s for voting. The newest version of the bill allows college ID’s, within certain parameters—such as they must include an address of residence and a photograph.

Concealed carry is another high-profile item on the agenda right now. Legislators have introduced two types of bills. One is a “constitutional carry”—which means it does not place restrictions on concealed carry or require a permit or training to conceal. The other bill is what is known as a “shall issue” or permit concealed carry—which means that gun owners can apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Forty-eight states have some version of concealed-carry. Wisconsin and Illinois are the only two that don’t. A handful of states have a “constitutional carry” law and the rest have some sort or permit and/or training requirement.  The majority party—the Republicans—are having some serious disagreement among their own members as to which bill is better.  Now the bills’ authors are asking for public input on the two proposals.

The next few weeks will tell us the true character of the Republican majority at the State Capitol. Can the Republican caucus iron through differences between the large, vocal, freshman caucus and the battle-weary establishment?

As an organization, we’re very much interested in the answer to that question. There are a number of issues that the people of Wisconsin expect our legislators to address: everything from Voter ID to pro-life, pro-family issues, including the repeal of the Healthy Youth Act. Now is the time for action, for courageous and difficult decisions.

We knew going into it that this was going to be a tough legislative session. Everyone agrees we need to cut spending but no one wants their program cut. Last session, the Democrats passed a number of anti-life, anti-family policies that need to be addressed. However, once a law is in place, it’s extremely difficult to repeal.

Frankly, we need new ideas, creative alternatives and residents across the state who are ready and willing to take back local control on a number of issues we’ve ceded to the state government.

So, what can you do? Pray! Pray for godly wisdom and courage for elected officials. And then put actions to your prayers. Keep holding your elected officials accountable.  Stay in contact with them. Let them know your opinions on the issues. Call the legislative hotline at 800-362-9472 or our offices at 888-378-7395 to find out who represents you. Keep updated on the issues that are important you and be ready to come to Madison to testify. Get involved with the elections at your local level if you’re facing a Senate recall election.

I can’t tell you what to expect, but I can tell you this: unless we all stay informed and involved, we won’t like the outcome.

This is Julaine Appling for Wisconsin Family Council reminding you the Prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

Download/listen to the MP3 file.

Motherhood, a Noble Life

by Amy Lewis

In the masterful depiction of the Proverbs 31 woman, I love how the writer validates her godliness and lasting beauty:

Her children rise up and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many daughters have done well,
“But you excel them all.”[1]

This godly woman’s own children and husband—who know her the best and benefit the most from her attention and care—proudly attest to her worth.  Those verses impress me in two ways: first, that it is incumbent upon children and husbands to recognize and praise their mothers and wives for who they are and everything they do for their families and communities.  Second: that it is not her beauty (we’re not even told if she’s beautiful), or her business savvy, or her charitable or volunteer work, or her great cooking skills (again, we’re not even told she was a great cook) that her family praises her for, but her life as a whole.

Mothers deserve that praise and it is our privilege this Sunday, on Mother’s Day, to set aside a day to especially acknowledge and celebrate our mothers. These incredibly brave women take on a lifelong role when they become mothers—a role that is by its very nature selfless. Mothers give of themselves to their children continually, from the time they give their bodies to nurture and house their unborn children to the end of their lives, when they leave behind a heritage that shapes their families’ futures. A mother’s life is a testament to her love for her family.

A selfless life is a noble life—the noblest there can be.  As Daughters of Eve, mothers’ life-giving role bears the handprint of the Creator—a handprint of grace and beauty.

If you are a mother, I hope that you realize the blessing you are not only to your family but to your community and your nation as you raise the next generation and teach them how to live. And I hope that your family recognizes your value and praises you on Mother’s Day and every day.  If you do not have children yourself, but you help fill in the “mother holes” in someone’s life, then I hope that you receive recognition and praise for your love and sacrifice.

If your mother is alive, or you have someone who fills the role of mother in your life, I hope that on Mother’s Day you rise up and call her blessed—because she is.

[1] Proverbs 31:28,29 (NKJV)

A Call to Prayer

by Amy Lewis

This week’s radio commentary:

This Thursday, May 5, is the National Day of Prayer: a congressionally declared and presidentially proclaimed day for the United States to join in prayer for our country. It is a historical practice for Americans for our leaders to call us to prayer for the nation. In 1775, with the future of the colonies hanging in the balance, the Continental Congress called the colonies to prayer. In times of war and times of peace, our presidents and leaders have called us to prayer.

It is right and appropriate that we continue that tradition, enshrined as it is now in U.S. statute, a statute recently upheld in federal Appellate Court against a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality.

This past Sunday night, as the country watched the president announce the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of U.S. military forces, we remembered the national call to prayer on 9/11, nearly ten years ago. Although there is a deep and wide divide in this country over the role of religion in policy and the public square, when tragedy strikes we, as a nation, turn to prayer.

For followers of Christ, this is not a trite, hopeless or contrived response. It was our response on Sunday evening when we realized the very real threat that possible retaliation for bin Laden’s death poses for our country, for our leaders and for our military personnel stationed throughout the world. A call to prayer is incredibly serious and our response requires sober sincerity and unshakeable faith in God’s promises.

The National Day of Prayer proclamation is not a requirement; it does not force any American to participate but it does encourage everyone to participate. It is truly humbling for a mighty nation to publicly acknowledge its need for the providence and the intervention of God, the great King.

We are a country, and a state, in need. Consider these Wisconsin statistics.

The divorce ratio in Wisconsin is up to 58% percent in 2010. Almost 98% of all divorces in Wisconsin in 2010 affected minor children; that means that 16,897 Wisconsin children under age eighteen were affected by a divorce last year. The number of abortions reported for Wisconsin residents was up to 8,299 in 2009—the first increase in abortions since 2003. One out of every four children in the U.S. is being raised by a single parent. In 2009, over 700 deaths in Wisconsin were suicides.

These are significant and troubling statistics: significant because the numbers are on the increase and troubling because each number represents a real person who is negatively, even fatally, affected by the circumstances cited in the statistics.

We face a $3.6 billion deficit in our state budget unless we make drastic cuts to spending and services. Our state has been racked by months of angry protests and family members, friends and fellow church members have vehemently disagreed over the Governor’s budget repair bill.

We can protest, we can rally, we can vote, we can work on campaigns, we can run for office, we can support or oppose legislation but unless God heals our land, those figures I just quoted are going to continue to increase. I’m not implying that prayer is a magic bullet because it isn’t. But it is a wonderful privilege that God gives us as His children to call upon Him and to intercede for our land.

We are ambassadors of Christ to a world that is broken and hurting. Each one of our communities is filled with hurt, with the real-life implications of the statistics I cited and so much more. He came to heal the sick, to give hope to the hopeless and to set the captives free.

So this Thursday, May 5, I trust you will set aside time to pray, to pray for your communities, for your church, for our state and for our country, to pray with faith and conviction. We live in Wisconsin right now.  That means this is our mission field. These are the people whose lives need the saving grace of the Gospel of Christ.

As children of the New Covenant, we remember God’s call to prayer to the people of Israel in the Old Covenant, “If My people, who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Amen and amen!

This is Julaine Appling for Wisconsin Family Council reminding you the Prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

Listen to/download MP3 file.

Find events in your area at the National Day of Prayer Taskforce website.

Perpetual Campaign

by Amy Lewis

This week’s radio commentary…

After the whirlwind of the November 2010 elections and the preceding campaign season, you may have thought, as I did, that once we got through a low-key State Supreme Court election this April we’d be without campaigns and elections for a year. Boy, were we wrong!

The budget adjustment bill and ensuing Capitol changed all that.

We believe holding elected officials accountable is important and necessary.  However, holding elected officials accountable by attempting to force a recall election for every legislator eligible for recall is a relatively new strategy. A recall is a constitutional provision for removing an elected officer. Typically, we would want to ensure that a legislator had committed a serious infraction of rules, laws, standards of behavior or common decency before instituting a recall campaign.

A recall is no small matter, particularly since there’s a good possibility it could change the outcome of last November’s election

Read the rest here.

Listen to/download the MP3 file.

Liberty and Whom It Comes From

by Amy Lewis

This week’s radio commentary…

Liberty. It’s an incredibly inspiring and important concept. Men, women and children down through the centuries have given their all for the cause of liberty. As Americans, we pride ourselves on our liberty and the sacrifices we have made in pursuit of that great cause.

But where does the concept of liberty come from? It’s far too glorious to have sprung from the mind of mere mortals—a race much more inclined to enslave than to free when left to its own devices.

God is the Author of liberty, as one of our patriotic songs confirms. The God of the Universe is in the business of setting captives free. This week begins the Jewish Passover, the celebration of the Hebrews’ flight from Egypt, when God freed the nation of Israel from their Egyptian masters millennia ago.

>> read more

>> download MP3

Pro-Family PAC-Endorsed Candidates Victorious

by Amy Lewis

Madison—Wisconsin Family Action Political Action Committee (WFA PAC) is pleased to announce that two of its endorsed candidates won in the Assembly District 60 and Assembly District 94 special election primaries last night.

Assembly District 60 Special Election Primary
Duey Stroebel (R)

Assembly District 94 Special Election Primary
John Lautz (R)

Read the press release here.

Connecting With Your Government

by Amy Lewis

This week’s radio commentary…

Last Thursday, Wisconsin Family Council welcomed almost 200 Wisconsin citizens to Madison for our 2011 Day at the Capitol. People from all across the state heard from legislative leaders, representatives from Supreme Court candidates’ campaigns and from our staff about current events, about what to expect in the future and how to connect with their government.

As we’ve talked about recently on this commentary, we live in a representative republic, and that means that in order for our government to truly represent the will of We the People, We the People have to regularly and effectively interact with our government. That is our duty, our privilege and our right.

Read the rest here.

Listen to/download the MP3 file here.

Civility and Self-Governing

by Amy Lewis

This week’s radio commentary:

Civility—it’s the new political buzzword.  A word frequently used and little practiced these days.

We heard a great deal about civility in early January of this year when Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was tragically shot at an open-air town-hall meeting.  Many said the shooting happened because of heated political rhetoric—uncivil, if you will, rhetoric. Politicians, citizens, and the media called for a return to civility in politics.  And then, Madison happened.

In the wake of the Capitol Chaos and in the run-up to the April 5 elections and the ongoing recall efforts of 16 state senators, civility seems to have been just a fleeting notion, worth little and practiced less.

Read the rest here.

Listen to/download the MP3 here.