Our ancestors created Social Security. Ron Johnson’s idea would destroy it, and Medicare along with it.

Noted: When President Franklin Roosevelt worked with his New Deal team to design Social Security, our forebears — Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace and Emergency Relief Administrator Harry Hopkins — looked especially to Wisconsin for help. Their top aides included University of Wisconsin professor Edwin Witte and UW graduate Arthur Altmeyer.

When a second generation of New Dealers in Congress created Medicare in 1964, Wisconsin also played a decisive role. Milwaukee-born Wilbur Cohen, another UW graduate, was among Medicare’s lead architects.