{"id":18802,"date":"2012-10-24T22:54:11","date_gmt":"2012-10-25T03:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=18802"},"modified":"2012-10-25T10:10:20","modified_gmt":"2012-10-25T15:10:20","slug":"senator-ron-johnson-lets-numbers-illustrate-his-views-in-on-the-issues-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2012\/10\/senator-ron-johnson-lets-numbers-illustrate-his-views-in-on-the-issues-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator Ron Johnson Lets Numbers Illustrate His Views in “On the Issues” Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/strong>US <\/strong><\/strong>Senator Ron Johnson let the numbers tell a lot of the story Tuesday during an \u201cOn the Issues with Mike Gousha\u201d session at Marquette University Law School.<\/p>\n

Numbers showing how the percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) that comes from federal spending, which has risen a lot with projections that it will keep rising. Numbers showing how the gap between projected federal revenue and spending has grown and is forecast to become much bigger. Numbers showing how, in the history of Social Security, the amount collected exceeded the amount spent every year until 2010 but now we\u2019re at the start of a projected long run in which payments are greater than revenue. Numbers showing how steps such as increasing taxes on rich people would do very little to close the gaps in upcoming federal budgets if we stay on the course we\u2019re on. He showed these and other matters as graphs on two large screens in Eckstein Hall\u2019s Appellate Courtroom.<\/p>\n

But Johnson also included numbers on some non-economic issues. A chart on the dramatic long-term climb of \u201cbirths out of wedlock\u201d appeared to spark the most reaction in the audience of about 200. The single-mother birth rate was 6.9% in 1964 and 41% in recent years, Johnson\u2019s chart showed. He called the rise \u201ca very graphic, very harmful unintended consequence of all of our good intentions\u201d in the national War on Poverty, started in the 1960s. Among the factors Johnson said were behind the increase: Public benefits policies that provided unintended incentives for mothers not to get married. As \u201ca compassionate society,\u201d he said, government wanted to help those in need.<\/p>\n

Asked by an audience member what\u00a0could be done now to change the trend, Johnson said he didn\u2019t know the answer, but he thought the facts were important to understand.. He said he was not advocating for not helping people in need.<\/p>\n

An Oshkosh businessman with no previous runs for public office, the Republican Johnson defeated Democratic incumbent Russ Feingold in 2010. Johnson has been a strong advocate of much tighter controls on government spending and he has been a favorite of Tea Party groups in Wisconsin and beyond.<\/p>\n

Johnson strongly criticized President Barack Obama, particularly on government spending issues, and backed Republican challenger Mitt Romney for president. He said four more years of Obama as president would be \u201ca disaster\u201d filled with divided leadership between Congress and the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Romney understands America must be strong if we going to be a leader in the world,\u201d Johnson said. Obama \u201cdoesn\u2019t appreciate American exceptionalism\u201d and doesn\u2019t understand that the American economy has to be strong if America is to be a strong world leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stakes are extremely high in this election,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThe financial future of America rests with this election.\u201d He said Wisconsin is crucial to the election.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s session with Gousha, the Law School\u2019s distinguished fellow in law and public policy, may be viewed by clicking here<\/a>. Johnson’s visit provided interesting contrasts in views with an Oct. 4 “On the Issues” with Feingold. That session can be viewed\u00a0by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Senator Ron Johnson let the numbers tell a lot of the story Tuesday during an \u201cOn the Issues with Mike Gousha\u201d session at Marquette University Law School. Numbers showing how the percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) that comes from federal spending, which has risen a lot with projections that it will keep rising. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,122,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political-processes-rhetoric","category-public","category-speakers","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18802\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}