Challenge The Establishment

During their tour of the western states, Bernie Sanders took the stage and talked about AOC and how she took on the establishment and won:

She stood up and took on one of the most powerful people in the House of Representatives. And she started with almost no money against the guy who had unlimited funds, and she beat him. Now, why do I tell you that story? 

It's not just to talk about Alexandria. The point that I am making is that in this arena of 15,000 people, there are hundreds of Alexandrias. There are hundreds of Alex's and Joe's and Mary's and Cynthia's. 

And all across this country, we are going to need people to go outside of their comfort zone. Because the establishment, man, they are smart. They are so smart. And one of the smartest things they do, one of the most effective things they do, is to say to all of you and working people all over America, hey, we got the money, we got the power, we own it all, you ain't nothing, nothing you're going to do about it. And a lot of people sit back and they say, what am I going to do? You can't do nothing. My boss is going to fire me, this, that, and the other thing. And that is the mindset we have got to break through. 

In Wisconsin, we have seen our own version of AOC, when Chris Larson, a strong liberal, took on then State Senator Jeff Plalw and won. It was a definite upgrade.Whereas Larson became part of the Fab 14 and fled the state to give us more time to fight against Walker and WISGOP over Act 10, Plale had actually went along with Walker and killed a last minute effort to divert the damage.

Now, I'm not exactly echoing Bernie in the sense that everyone and their uncle should file to run.  But we can definitely do our part by keeping an eye on our elected representatives on every level of government and make informed decisions on whom we vote for.  We cannot afford to have our electeds do nothing but just lip service, or even worse, go along to get along.  

I know I'm not alone in feeling this way:

Democrats, meanwhile, were more inclined to want their party to change course, with few saying this realignment should be toward the middle. 

Just 18% said the Democratic Party should become more moderate, while 50% said it should become more progressive. Meanwhile, 24% said the party should stay the current course.

And we need to do this not only for our representatives, but also for the party officials.  Right now, there is not one candidate that I know of running for Chair of the DPW who is not an establisment person. The status quo is no longer enough. We need fighters, everywhere.

Bryce vs Myers: The Bernie Test

In advance of the upcoming primary, left leaning voters have been looking at the candidates, especially as to where they fall on certain issues.  One of those issues is where the candidate stood in the 2016 presidential election.  Were they standing with Bernie Sanders or did they support Hillary Clinton?

Randy Bryce has undoubtedly been a Bernie backer from the beginning.  In fact, Bernie asked Randy to speak at one of his rallies when he was running for president.  While Randy will readily admit that he voted for Clinton in the general election, that was only after Bernie dropped out and asked his supporters to support Clinton instead.

This year, Bernie has been here in Wisconsin for two separate rallies in support of Randy.  

But what about his opponent, Cathy Myers.  Myers also claims that she was a Bernie backer and denies repeated statements from people who were at the 2016 convention that she supporter Clinton.  However, there is no evidence of any pictures of Myers with Bernie or even at a Bernie rally.

But the thing that really blows holes in Myers' lies is the actual list from that convention on who was caucusing for Clinton.  If you look at the top of the list, you will see that Myers was one of the eight delegates from that district that were eligible to be a delegate for Clinton.

Click on image to embiggen it

It also blows her claim of being the more progressive candidate out of the water as well.

The sad part is that this far from the first time she's tried to mislead the voters and most assuredly won't be the last.

Hillary's Blind Ambition - Now Let's Wake Up

By Jeff Simpson

Hillary Clinton was determined that she was going to be the 45th President of the United States.  She knew it, I would guess sometime around 2012 when Obama was re-elected. 

Everyone new that Hillary would be the next President, from Nate Silver to Moody's to Martha Laning.

Hillary's sycophants were out there trying to see who could be the most pro-Hillary because they wanted a piece of the White House Action!

This kind of stuff was common place:

The plan was simple, do her bidding, and when she took over the White House you were either going to be offered a job for the next 8 years or politically blackballed for the next 8 years. 

The choice was clear. 

So when they concocted a plan to become the next nominee, they knew they would beat Martin O'Malley, they decided to exert full control over the DNC.    Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair at the time, was all in also.   I wonder what Cabinet level position she had her eyes on? 

Then a 70 year old, unkempt Jewish grandpa, decided to join the race and actually had a message that was not #imwithher and his message resonated.  People were sick to death of the politics as usual routine, while they could look around and see that they were 1 incident away from losing everything. 
America was sick of the infighting, the loss of wages and jobs and the constant worry about healthcare, while the people on Wall St. (who actually broke the world) were able to light their Cuban Cigars with $100 bills if they wanted. 

America is not working for too many of us. 

Hillary and her team could not see the forest for the trees, as they were too busy picking out curtains, and decided that since they were going to win anyway, they might as well take over the DNC before a vote was even cast!

In WI, we knew before most people, because of some great reporting by Rebecca Kemble and Barbara WIth.

Unfortunately, the rest of the country just woke up with the release of Donna Brazile's new book. Brazile took over the reins of the DNC when Wasserman-Schultz resigned. 

Her new tell all book, tells us of the massive incompetence and corruption behind the scenes of the DNC and all led by Hillary and her team!

Yet the states kept less than half of 1 percent of the $82 million they had amassed from the extravagant fund-raisers Hillary’s campaign was holding, just as Gary had described to me when he and I talked in August. When the Politico story described this arrangement as “essentially … money laundering” for the Clinton campaign, Hillary’s people were outraged at being accused of doing something shady. Bernie’s people were angry for their own reasons, saying this was part of a calculated strategy to throw the nomination to Hillary.
The agreement—signed by Amy Dacey, the former CEO of the DNC, and Robby Mook with a copy to Marc Elias—specified that in exchange for raising money and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff. The DNC also was required to consult with the campaign about all other staffing, budgeting, data, analytics, and mailings.
I had been wondering why it was that I couldn’t write a press release without passing it by Brooklyn. Well, here was the answer.

Hillary had a plan, she was going to be the 45th President of the United States, teh same way the Hare knew he could beat the tortoise in a race. 

No Problem. 

Well there was one problem, The American People had a different plan.  They did not feel that anyone "deserves" to be President and could not have cared less that it was her turn. 

They wanted jobs, college education without massive debt, the ability to take a vacation and not go bankrupt if their car broke down or they broke an arm. 

The Donald realized that and spoke to those people.  Being a "reality star" he knew how to play to the camera as an actor,  He acted like he cared and had plans on bringing jobs and healthcare to the people. 

Behind the curtain, all he really cared about was winning.  There was no there - there.   There still is not.

Now we are one of the lucky ones(kind of) as Hillary Clinton will finally make her way to WI(she ignored us during the election- and lost WI), next week to do a book signing.   

I will not be there, as I do not have an extra $500 to have her sign a book, or an actual desire to read her book. 

However, if you do go.....I recommend that someone asks Hillary come very important questions.

* What happened to the Hillary Victory Fund money that was supposed to finance down ballot races?

*  Did you feel the least bit uneasy, running the DNC before the primaries even started?  Did you not see a conflict of interest?

* Why would you take Harvey Weinsteins advice in a way to smear your opponent?

*  Did you not think you could beat Bernie Sanders in a regular primary or did you just assume the nomination was yours and work towards the final goal of being President?

*  As despicable a human being as Donald Trump is, why would you attend his wedding and why would you encourage him to run for President?


Now what should be the next steps to move on and win in 2018? 

*  Make sure that Progressives have a seat at the table at all times. 

* Anyone who was in the Hillary inner circle needs to sit out this next election.   Their collective hive minds or brilliance, took a lifelong career politician and lost to a bumbling fool reality tv "star".  There is absolutely nothing that can be learned from them.   They can knock doors for the eventual candidates. 

*  STOP defending Hillary on this.   Yes, Bernie had a huge mountain to climb to wrestle the nomination from someone whose every move for 12 years was designed on her winning said nomination.   She probably would have won without any help at all. 

The word rigged is not exactly right either BUT no thinking person can deny that the scales were not strongly weighted against Bernie. 

In a country where half the people do not bother voting,  why would the DNC be arrogant enough to make sure and demean and devalue a huge chunk of primary voters who do show up to vote?

To pretend that there was no problem with the primary makes you look as insane as the Trump/Walker sycophants and is an affront against democracy. 

Your candidate won the primary, as flawed as she and it was, we can not go back and revote so just accept that it was not a level playing field, and vow to work on making it better next time.  Then please shut up!   

It is going to take a united effort to win in 2018 and 2020, that has to start with you! 

*  If you have paid your dues to be a good upstanding Democrat.  Bully for you!  To pretend that makes you more progressive, more liberal, a better American than others who feel the same or have similar beliefs than you, is the same as the righties trying to own the flag because of their beliefs. 

You choose to join the party, instead of pointing out how important you are to people who have not joined, try convincing them to join instead.  Explain why they should join instead of trying to shame them out of participating! 

Lets realize our mistakes, set aside our differences and win in 2018!      We must have a wave next November.   

We Have It In Our Power To Begin Wisconsin Over Again

By Jeff Simpson

In every election as far back as I can remember, the party in power gets smoked in the mid-terms.  For Wisconsinites, the timing could not be better.   The 2018 election will be much more important than the beating the Democrats took last night.   The work for that needs to begin today,  but first we need some housekeeping and lessons from the election of 2016(from a Wisconsin point of view). 

1.  The old rules of how to campaign, win elections etc... all got thrown out the window this year.  While normal candidates, by the book, spent thousands on polling(more on this later), the Donald spent more on hats than he did polling.   The Donald had no real ground game, fought with everyone and spent most of his energy attacking anyone who criticized him, yet was the first Republican to win WI since Ronnie.

2.  There NEEDS to be accountability.   We have zero power now to make change, but we have all of the power to demand change.   There needs to be resignations and they need to come yesterday.   I would recommend we start with Martha Laning, Kory Kozlowski and whoever the head of research for the party is because he/she apparently had no idea that many people were running for office on the Dem Ticket.   We need to continue on and get new leadership in the State Senate and Assembly.   Jen Shilling and Peter Barca need to step down from their "lack of " leadership positions.

3. I recommend that David Bowen take over the party for the next year and he hire Mandela Barnes as Executive Director.   Then Mandela can decide after a year if he wants to run for office again or take over the WISDEMS.  One way or another, Mandela Barnes is part of the future of our party.    I also recommend that Kathleen Vinehout be Senate Minority leader and that Katrina Shankland be Assembly Democratic Leader with Jonathon Brostoff as her assistant.    Fresh leadership is desperatly needed!  

4.  Anyone who tells you that Bernie would not have done better against The Donald is just trying to cover up their own incompetence and lack of understanding of the election process and the Wisconsin electorates, so please take what they say with a huge grain of sand!  

5.  We need to have all of the super delegates, understand their role in the massive losses that we sustained in Wisconsin.   Bernie was a huge favorite, won Wisconsin primary handily, and yet all but David Bowen used their super delegate vote for HRC.  Wisconsinites who supported Bernie were contacting them to advocate for their candidate, some of the SD's were reprinting their letters and openly mocking them on social media.   

David Bowen, Mark Pocan, Gwen Moore, Ron Kind, Tammy Baldwin, Martha Laning, Jason Rae, Christine Bremer Muggli, Martha Love and Michael Childers.   

 6.  The old saying of "Don't mourn, Organize" is becoming passe' and needs to be edited to say "Don't mourn, talk".   I understand that everyone needs a little time to let the loss sink in but do not withdraw.   I see lots of my liberal/progressive friends on social media unfriending their Trump supporting friends and family members.  Stop it!

I have no problem criticizing our elected officials who are bigoted, anti education, racist and just plain dumb.  Keep that up, but their supporters are a different story.  We need to dialogue with them, try and understand them, see where they are coming from.  how they got there. and what you have in common.  Help them see the same things about you.   A big problem is we have put ourselves in a little bubble and only hear and see what we want too.   That happens on both sides (see News Fox) and we need to find ways to step outside our bubble and into theirs and vice versa.    

So Don't mourn, engage!    

7.  Find a spot for Mandy Wright.  Like Mandela Barnes, Mandy Wright also needs to be the future of the party!   

8.  Lets stop pretending that Charles Franklin and Nate Silver are heroes, guru's, experts or geniuses.  It is time to recognize that the anonymous opinion of a thousand people does not speak for 5 million others.   Polls are fine and they are good to know some information, but like a standardized test in public schools, tell us just a small frame of a feature film.   

9.  Who is the base of the Democratic Party?  As a former industrial, heavily unionized, blue state, the economy is not working for many many people.  With Gatt, NAFTA, WTO, And now the TPP, states like Wisconsin have been crushed economically.

Why have we allowed someone like Scott Walker to divide and conquer?  Because there is no champion to unite us.   No person to acknowledge the fact that we have lost jobs, that poverty is going up and so are incomes of the upper class.  No one to acknowledge that people are working two jobs and losing their homes.   No one to acknowledge that attacking public workers for having health insurance while we allow our politicians to give millions of our tax dollars to their friends no questions asked is hurting our state.  

That is what made Bernie so popular in WI(he won 71/72 counties) and elsewhere.   He spoke to the people that needed a champion.  He spoke directly to them and told them he gets it and understand their pain and the importance of fixing it.     

The people of Wisconsin, and elsewhere, are desperate not only for a populist message but a sincere populist message.    If you can filter out the racism, sexism, bigotry, etc... (and many people could) the message that Trump was saying was a populist message,   He told the people that he understood that they are losing their jobs to Mexico and China etc...  He let them know that he understood that we need jobs in America and that if you elect him the jobs will come back.    Ignoring the fact that the messenger was incredibly hypocritical, and the part of the problem, but the message resonated.   

10.   The Dem party, which includes the party apparatchik, made many mistakes throughout.   

         

          A. This is the first election in memory where the candidate did not make an appearance in the final days before the election.   Great idea.  

          B.  Hillary did send many surrogates here (Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren) and every time, they gave speeches to a solid crowd of Democrats and not once, did local/statewide candidates get a chance to share the stage and introduce themselves.   Now when we start looking at the next election, we get to hear how so many Democrats do not have "name recognition". 

          C.  Statewide Dems, who had a chance to get on a bigger stage, never once did they start naming names and talking about winning.   For instance, Mark Pocan was on Mike Gousha show and when asked about Paul Ryan working with The Donald, never once even mention the fact that Ryan Solen was running against him and he had to win his election first.   

11.  We need to identify who the base actually is.   It should be a big tent party where we bring in and appeal to everyone from the white working class to the minorities to the CEO's to the people in poverty.  If you follow politics, really follow politics, you know that many Trump/Walker supporters should be voting Democratic...so why aren't they? 

12.   There is a whole professional political class, that moves from one inside job to another and they are destroying our state.   The consultant class is consulting our state into a bright bright shade of red. For instance: 

  

 *  As Nation Consulting owns writes:  2. THERE IS NO SILVER BULLET. This is not the case of one thing going wrong. If you think nominating Bernie changes this 180 degrees, no. If you think more money changes this, no. If you think only racism or sexism or bigotry explains this, no. If you think only economics or culture explains this, no. If you think any one thing being different is the solution, no. A clusterfuck of this proportion only happens when many, many things go wrong. So take your simplistic answers and shove them.

It is not simple but if you think nominating Bernie would not have made a difference then you can take your simplistic understanding of the WI electorate and shove it! Of course a shill for Hillary would downplay the importance of the vast majority of Wisconsinites.

* Former Mary Burke team member, Joe Zepecki(who handled the press operations for Burke, on what might be the worse press operation campaign in history), who was given numerous chances on news talk shows to "speak for the Democrats", was also given the keys to a multi million dollar Super PAC (For Our Future Fund), which focused on community organizing, was based in Milwaukee. The lower turnout in Milwaukee was the difference in helping the Donald win WI and the Presidency.

Looking at some numbers (not sure what they mean, except turnout matters). (Assuming the results are all in) Clinton had similar margins of victory as Obama in Milwaukee County (66% to 29% vs 67% to 32%; 162,895 more votes in 2016 vs 169,660 in 2012). However, Obama collected 39,104 more total votes in Milwaukee County. Trump's statewide margin of victory was 26,788.

*  Many statewide candidates hired a company from Chicago called The Strategy Group.  Apparently this group of high priced political consultants from Chicago, most of whom were from the Coasts and Washington DC, were the perfect group to tell us how to win in Ladysmith, Winter and Oconto.    Of course right up until election day when they cash their checks, head home and their candidates get their hats handed to them.  

13.   The party insiders need to get over themselves and take a long hard look in the mirror.  Wisconsin was a blue state until Mike Tate and his crew took over and now we are a bright red state.   Members of his team turned that kind of success into other jobs, like Jake Hadju, who ran Hillary's operations in WI( the first time since 1984 that a Republican won our state).  

Many of the team are outright hostile to people who are not members of the party or have criticisms.  Which leads to divisions in the party and Republican landslides.   If they want to continue in their old habits, then they need to find a new career.  If they are willing to acknowledge that their way has not worked in years then lets all work together and change this state back to blue! 

14. Do not be a party of the Republicans suck, be a party of telling stories and holding Republicans accountable.   For example, in the last week before the election, Paul Ryan had someone yell at his GOTV rally "Where is Lee Harvey Oswald when you need him?" and Paul Ryan completely ignored it.  So did the media and the Democratic party.   What would have happened if someone yelled that about Scott Walker at a Democratic GOTV rally? 

15.   Finally, we need some people to start running for Governor now.   Lets get name recognition and message fine tuned soon.  We need to let the Republicans attack them now, and make the hard core criticisms old news by election season!  

Extra Credit:   Make Alan Grayson head of the Democratic National Committee! 

We can do this.  2018 can bring a new day but we need to work together and we need to start now! 

Kooky Kooyenga

By Jeff Simpson

Dale Kooyenga, the Assembly rep, who was drunk on the Assembly floor during the budget debate, has a problem with arrogance.   The Assembly Rep from the 14th District, which covers Brookfield, Wauwatosa,Elm Grove and West Allis came up with a plan to take over the Milwaukee Public Schools and turn two schools a year into privately held charters.  It amazes me what the WISGOP will do, to be on the good side of Scott Jensen.

Kooyenga, who no one has ever accused of being a policy wonk, found out that the way he wrote the law, and thanks to some great work from the Milwaukee Public schools, no school in Wisconsin was eligible to be taken over.   A quick profit off the MPS inner city schools will have to wait for another day.

What does the person, who has helped oversee a drop in every economic measurement available and record debt have to say about improvement in the Milwaukee Schools(of which he does not represent)?

While MPS appears to be dodging the OSPP this year, it's not clear that it will go unscathed when Republican lawmakers — angered by its unwillingness to bend to the statute — return to Madison in January. Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield), who authored the proposal with Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), said the Opportunity Schools plan was the right kind of pressure to put on the district, and that it could still be triggered if MPS slides backward in future years.
"I would think that's an incredible incentive for the district to improve its results, knowing that the consequence (for not improving) could be new governance," he said.
Kooyenga also said he would like to further embolden Driver to make changes in the district, with or without approval of the Milwaukee School Board.
"Rest assured, there will be more reforms," he said.

Why take credit for the success and promise to punish them even more, democratically elected school board be dammed.   Mr. Small Government Conservative will be back with more mandates for the Milwaukee Public Schools to follow.

But Wait there is more:

When Bernie won the state overwhelmingly this year in the primary, Dale K, was very confused.  So he did what most people do when they are confused, he wrote a column for a jibberish website that was loaded with jibberish. 

Dale, who played college basketball at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, was too busy to take an economics class but is not scared to show us he actually did skip economics.

#1 Dale Kooyenga (DK): Free College Tuition:   If Wisconsin liberals believe college should be affordable, then why do campus faculties largely oppose Wisconsin tuition freezes? Why are the Democrats in the State Senate and Assembly opposed to the tuition freeze contained in the last two state budgets? 

#1 Real World (RW):   Freezing tuition is fine, if it is accompanied with money to the University System to offset that.  As we know, costs rise every year, and while the WISGOP, have frozen tuition, they have also cut hundreds of millions of dollars of state aid from the University System,   A 5th grade average mathematician can figure out that when you drain the two main funding sources serious damage will occur.

The reality is the Dems oppose the tuition freeze because it coupled with other bad policy and costing major problems with the quality of our world class education.   Luckily the Democrats in Madison are advanced economically beyond fifth grade.

#2 DK:   Affordable Housing:    If Democrats have a monopoly on affordable housing, why is housing generally more expensive where liberal policies are strongest? Because over-regulation creates additional cost. Compare California and New York to Texas or Tennessee.

#2 RW:  Sometimes it boggles my mind the complete ignorance of right wing talking points.  Why is housing generally more expensive where liberal policies are strongest.   Umm Dale it is called this old little known (in Republican circles) called Supply and Demand.  

Why is housing more expensive in liberal bastians?  Because more people want to live there?  why do more people want to live there?  Because it usually means, more services, better schools, more local arts, lower unemployment, better jobs, better restaurants, etc...  

The fact we have to explain that to a sitting Assemblyman leaves me almost speechless.   

#3 DK: #BlackLivesMatter:  With very little fanfare or recognition, Wisconsin Republicans passed legislation that addresses a concern of the Black Lives Matter movement. Although most Republicans believe the vast majority of police officers act professionally and ethically, 2013 Wisconsin Act 348 mandates that officer-involved shootings include at least two investigators from outside the police department and require district attorneys to release the detailed reports of the officer-involved shooting to the public.

#3 RW:  Not sure what this has to do with #blacklivesmatter, but the reason that this legislation passed with very little fanfare or recognition is because Chris Taylor, one of the most Progressive members of the Wisconsin Legislature, wrote the bill.

No member of the Republican caucus is going to admit that the best legislation they passed in 6 years was written by a Progressive Democrat.  

#4 DK:  Consider Bernie's recent quote "You don’t necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants.” Imagine the response if you told all Millennials that the world of Bernie Sanders would include only one type of deodorant. The Bernie Sanders Millennials are unable to connect the fact that Socialism is government control of production. Bernie’s rationale could extend to beer, cars, etc...

#4 RW:   While Bernie has never ever been a true socialist and has always pointed out he is a Democratic Socialist, which means in no possible way does he want Government producing, deodorant, beer, shoes, etc...  Its unbelievable that Mr. Kooyenga would be so dishonest or misinformed.  The actual quote is:

You can't just continue growth for the sake of growth in a world in which we are struggling with climate change and all kinds of environmental problems. All right? You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers when children are hungry in this country. I don't think the media appreciates the kind of stress that ordinary Americans are working on.

Bernie clearly is pointing out that we need to wake up to see that a nation that has so much wealth should not have so much want and suffering.    It has nothing whatsoever to do with Bernie wanting to be President to make Brut by Faberge the only available after shave. 

#5 DK:  Presses the issue and is even more ignorant a second time.    Take comfort in this: most Bernie Sanders Millennials didn't know what they were voting for. Test Millennials yourself. Ask them, “What Wisconsin businesses would you like the government to own?”  They may be confused because they have been taught that Socialism is good, but not what Socialism is. A credible conversation points out that Socialism replaces individual liberty and choice with government decision- making. Historically, Socialism has failed and is currently causing humanitarian crises in places like Venezuela, Brazil, and Greece. 

#5 RW:   So Dale Kooyenga is certain that Bernie won the state handily because the people who voted for him are idiots.   Then shows us he has no idea whatsoever what Bernie stands for or what socialism is.  Bernie is a Democratic Socialist, where he understands that everyone in America deserves the same chance at success instead of the system we have now where the 1% have written advantage after advantage into our laws to make sure that they continue to have every advantage.  

By the way Big Dale, Brazil and Greece are both capitalistic economy and Greece was surviving until the banks took over and initiated an austerity program which crashed the economy.   

Sorry Dale, the people who supported Bernie Sanders, the ones who felt that "Berning sensation" knew exactly what they were voting for: an end to corporate control of our elections and politicians, an end to the practice where a CEO can pay himself $10,000,000 on a whim while your neighbor can work 50 hours a week and not have the money to fix his 8 year old car,  the end to the system where a black man can go to prison for months for being caught with a small amount of marijuana while a wall st Banker can fraud their clients and crash the economy and take a golden parachute with 7 zeros and vacation in the Caymans.   

Yes Dale they knew exactly what they were voting for that you can be certain! 

That all being said, we can no longer afford as a state to send such ignorance to Madison.   It is time to bring back common sense, civility and soberness to the Capitol in Madison and send Chris Rockwood to represent the 14th Assembly district,   

If you have a few minutes, please visit his website, and like his Facebook page, send him a few dollars and spend a couple hours knocking doors for him!   \

Your fellow Wisconsinites will thank you!    

The Four Keys to Taking Back our Democracy

By Matthew Van Grinsven

I would like to thank Bernie Sanders for initiating this political revolution.  I agree with most of his ideas, but his strategy is ultimately flawed.  He is attempting to reform the Democratic Party instead of getting our democracy back.

I don’t have enough time to engage why we are not a democracy now but I can quickly share a couple illustrations that display this; the approval rating of congress according to Gallup and the mainstream parties’ presidential nominee’s net favorability ratings.  When a democracy is supposed to be government by and for the people why would we so greatly disapprove of our representatives?

So, where do we go from here?  The four keys to taking back our democracy are:

1. Reverse the Citizens United decision by constitutional amendment. Corporations are not people and money does not equal speech. Money cannot drive our policy nor sway our politicians any longer. 
 
2. We must always vote and vote our conscience.  We cannot ever sit out an election and we must never vote based on fear.

3. Break up big media. Six corporations own 90% of the United States’ media.  They wield an enormous amount of influence in our media saturated world.  We likely are in the midst of a media oligopoly.  And on the horizon we have legislation further deregulating print and television media.  We must reduce the percentage of markets that large corporate media conglomerates may own local outlets in.  The FCC’s regulation of media ownership is for the public good and to make sure we don’t end up with a single new station and a single paper.  In this scope six is not much better than a monopoly

The leaks of the past week have proven how much collusion exists.  From a major online source, Politico, allowing the Democratic National Committee toedit stories to e-mails being exchanged by the DNC and NBC. (At this point I suggest they merge and just call themselves MSDNC.)

4. Install ranked choice/instant runoff system at the polls. The winner-take-all, two-party system needs to be decimated.  There is a common belief that we must change the Democrat party from within electing more progressives at local levels and slowly moving up the ranks.  This is an idea set forth BY the Democrat establishment.  Attempting to change one of the two mainstream parties is work that will take a generation.  And the establishment counts on people not staying focused long enough or caring for that long.  And they are right.  The establishment is more likely to change you, than you change the establishment. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
Listen – EVEN IF we had two party system with everybody thinking at least one of the two parties was great, we would still be in this mess.  The inherent problem with a two party system is that we are stuck having ONLY two choices.  Most of us think one of the two mainstream parties is at least a bit better than the other so we feel a duty to whomever our party nominates.  When the party games the primary we don’t have a meaningful choice. No other viable choices exist.  And with a system dominated by only two entities – corporations only have two targets to influence and dominate.  Now if we were in a system where we thought the party we liked had been corrupted, we could all say, “Hey Debbie Wasserman Shultz GET BENT!” and go to a different party.  However, because we have a winner-take-all, two party system, when we don’t like what “our” party is doing we have the choice to not vote or vote for another party’s candidate, say Green, Libertarian, America Delta, Constitutional, Prohibition, Nutrition, or America’s Party – and yes, those are all parties with candidates for president of the United States – and if we do that we are told that you’re supporting the mainstream party we don’t like a.k.a. the eviler of two evils.  UGH!  Having the two party winner take all system changes the power dynamic of the party to member relationship to a system where the power resides with the party, instead of it coming from the people.

There is NO choice to leave in the mainstream party’s collective mind…..being all other choices have been rendered irrelevant.  And how about that fear based voting? Instead of voting FOR people and policies we support we are “forced” to always vote AGAINST a candidate or for the lesser of two evils.  Who is sick of doing that too much in their lives?  If you don’t like it, you want ranked choice /instant runoff voting.

This is the problem with Bernie Sanders’ most recent strategic system.  He’s told people to join the party.  He’s told people to vote for Hillary Clinton, even though the primary was rigged against him.  He’s told people to run for office…..and they have, as Democrats.  This has done nothing but REINFORCE the two party system.  It has BOLSTERED the leverage of the Democratic Party establishment.  Who says that this is the best way to change our political climate? Again, it has been initiated by the establishment. I say, let’s start fixing our political system immediately and get to the representative democracy we deserve.

Like the lands and grooves on a key, we will not take back our democracy in the United States until all four of these actions occur.  There is no magic bullet to singlehandedly serve our democracy on a platter to us.  In order to unlock democracy we must turn these four keys.