The Death Of Ed Garvey

By Jeff Simpson

Ed Garvey, one of my heroes, all time good guys from Wisconsin and a true Gamechanger, passed away in early 2017.   Garvey, was what a true progressive should aspire to be.  He did not talk about change, he worked to actually change the political landscape.

One of the gifts that Mr. Garvey gave us was  Fighting Bob Fest.   Fighting Bob Fest, was a big top Progressive Chautauqua, that was the envy of Progressives all over the country.  It brought people such as Bernie Sanders, Greg Palast, Dave Zirin, Jim Hightower, Robert Kennedy Jr, Keith Ellison, etc.... to Baraboo,WI.  

One of the criticisms of FightingBobfest was that it was preaching to the choir.  However, as we have found out, Progressives becoming a rarity in WI, we needed one day of choir practice since we have 364 days of the exact opposite.  

The 2016, FightingBobfest ended its run.   It moved from Baraboo to Madison and now it goes into the dust bin of history.  

There will apparently be a night at the Barrymore, which used to be the "kickoff" for BobFest, but with no Bobfest to "kickoff" not sure what the point is.    Not only that, it is scheduled for September 10th and there is zero information available regarding the event available anywhere.  A quick look at the FightingBob Facebook page and all you see is a months old post by The Progressive Magazine asking for money.  

Since Hillary and her team blew it in Wisconsin and allowed the Donald to become President and RoJo to beat Senator Feingold, among many other losses, let us take a look at the Democratic/liberal/progressive scorecard n WI.  

*  Progressive Talk, The Mic 92.1, ended their run of political talk, despite good ratings, and went to a classic rock station(which I hope none of my readers will ever listen too).  

*  Sly was removed from his afternoon Progressive talk show and just allowed to play music on his family of radio stations.

*  The Progressive magazine, has went from a monthly magazine to a bimonthly magazine.

*  Wisdems leadership did not change and neither did anything in Wisconsin Democratic party.

*  The Wisdems communications director left and no one knew(think about that).  

*  The Democratic Minority leader of the Assembly, voted YES to give FoxConn $3 Billion taxpayer dollars to maybe create a few thousand jobs.  Was quickly congratulated by Scott Walker.

*   Senator Dave Hansen life was threatened,  Rep. Joel Kleefisch hung out with an anti-government hate group and there was a huge white supremacist march, which was handled poorly by pretty much every GOP rep(but Jim Steineke) and not a peep from the party.

*  Paul Ryan feels comfortable enough to go on live TV and talk about how great a job The Donald is doing.

*  FightingBob Fest has been shut down.  

* The one Progressive media outlet in the State, The Capital Times, used to associate with BobFest, but now has decided to start its own "fest" called ideasfest where they invite people from "all sides" to share ideas, or as they bill it - a new way to reach a better state. 

Under the leadership of managing editor Chris Murphy, these talks have posed what we believe are timely questions: “How many new apartments does Madison need?” was one well-attended example last year. We convened a panel of experts that drew almost 300 spectators to the High Noon Saloon, one of our frequent venues. Topics have varied but the turnouts, even on bad-weather weeknights, have been impressive — often 200 people or more.
This new Idea Fest takes that concept — that people appreciate well-crafted experiences that both educate and entertain — and builds something much bigger. While the inaugural fest coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Cap Times, it will be an annual event and not a one-time celebration.

The people sharing their "ideas" are such noted thinkers as Charley Sykes and Ron Johnson.  I look forward to hearing about the dangers of sunspots and why we should all call Michelle Obama - Mooch.   Those are some brilliant "ideas".  

Might I recommend they also invite Wild Bill Kramer to give us ideas on how to treat women and Scott Walker to tell us how to arrest people who sing songs you do not like.   The ideas that some in this state can share with us are endless.  

(Edit note: The venue for this "ideas fest" will be the UW-Madison campus.  I wonder if Robin Vos and Jesse Kremer needed to sign off on all speakers and topics).  

I guess when you have a director, Brady Williamson, who also represents WMC, then you should expect that the Progressive tradition of the Cap Times would be watered down.  

Not much momentum heading into the incredibly important election of 2018 in Wisconsin for team blue(and rumors of internal dissension within the party - more on that coming)!  

There is a zero sense of urgency, heading into a Gubernatorial election season, where historically the GOP should be extremely vulnerable.   At least I should say, that with rare exceptions, there seems to be no sense of urgency, because it seems like the WISDEMS have been on vacation this year.  

We also have another problem to overcome. primaries.   There are going to be many people jumping in the race to face Scooter, the guy who thinks walling off Canada is a good idea.   There is also a very contested race between Randy Bryce and Cathy Meyers to take on Paul Ryan already and a three way race for Supreme Court.  

All of these races have been ugly already and we are only getting warmed up.   Some people who I respect tremendously, who played neutral in the last presidential race, have been saying nasty things and spewing too much venom at candidates that they do not support,.  

So with all of the complete suppression of Progressive values, Ed Garvey is truly dead to us in WI!  

One of my favorite sayings of Ed's was "Is this a private fight, or can anyone join in?".  

It is time that we honor Ed Garvey again and start to take back our State.  Just like then, we need to take back the Democratic Party and then the State!  We need to do it IMMEDIATELY!

How do we do that at this point in our History?  It is simple, the same thing any athlete does when they fall into a bad slump - Go back to the basics!

In 2005 Ed Garvey came up with the idea of a "People's Legislature".   After meetings all over the state(imagine that reaching people in Madison AND Cable, WI).  The PL came up with four basic principles:

A four-part reform agenda was approved by participants at the assemblies, including:

• Comprehensive campaign finance reform that includes public financing of state elections campaigns and full disclosure of political contributions that restores the state’s ban on corporate campaign contributions;

• Independent ethics enforcement by combining the state Elections Board and Ethics Board into a single enforcement agency under the direction of a politically independent board;

• Competitive elections through reform of legislative redistricting modeled after the system used in Iowa, and;

• Preservation of local fiscal control to prevent arbitrary and centralized budget limits on local units of government.

It is hard to believe that we need to work around our legislators, to come up with these four basic ideas for a platform.   That we have to push the Democratic Party to support these basic fundamentals, but we do.

Let's honor the memory of Ed Garvey and DEMAND that these basic principles are not just part of the platform of any candidate asking for our support but that they also make them part of their stump speech!  

We have to also respect EVERYONE that runs for office, even if you do not support them.   The way we attack people who are not part of the Democratic Party establishment is beyond the pale and needs to stop.  

We also have to welcome ALL people into the Dem party and stop putting a premium on the people who pay $20.   We need every vote we can muster in November 2018 and if it means someone has to give up some of their power so be it.  

Finally, let's also remember another saying of Ed's(which we have strayed far  away from, even having lobbyists run major campaigns):  

"Bring your brooms so we can sweep the lobbyists out of the Capitol" 

Ed Garvey showed us the way to a better state....let us honor his memory and actually bring real change to Wisconsin!

Fighting Bob Fest 2016

By Jeff Simpson

In case you are sick of the constant yammering of the Sykes/Belling cabal of crap that fills the airwaves in the Milwaukee area, get in your car tomorrow and take a drive to Madison, WI and attend Fighting Bob Fest at Breeze Stevens Field.

I will be there in the afternoon, because as "Rising Star" Rep. Jarchow says:

Still, Jarchow acknowledges Wisconsin has only cracked the surface of needed government reforms.
“We have 100 years of progressive nonsense to unwind,” he said of the state that gave the world progressive Republican “Fighting” Bob La Follette. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The End of Progressive Media

By Jeff Simpson

When I was just getting into politics, some things really helped shape my views -  Fighting Bob Fest(which has since been taken over and hijacked), Molly Ivins, The Nation Magazine, The Progressive Magazine, Mother Jones and Time.

With no due respect to Christian Schneider, when Molly Ivins passed I took that hard.  She was one of two celebrities whose passing really affected me(Walter Payton being the other).   Yes, I was sad to see Prince pass but he did not quite effect me that way.   I still remember vividly, sitting with Molly Ivins after a speech she gave at the UW-Madison campus, where she told me that she has seen lawmakers shaking in their boots because of a dozen handwritten letters.

Unfortunately this Primary election season has also shown us the end of Progressive Journalism via Mother Jones and The Nation Magazine.  Both have not only jumped full throttle onto the Hillary Clinton bandwagon(I know The Nation endorsed Bernie, but we will get to that) they have proven how incredibly out of touch they are.

First off Mother Jones.

Kevin Drum, their "liberal" blogger from California was all in for Hillary.

With the Democratic primary basically over, I want to step back a bit and explain the big-picture reason that I never warmed up to Bernie Sanders. It's not so much that he's all that far to my left, nor that he's been pretty skimpy on details about all the programs he proposes. That's hardly uncommon in presidential campaigns. Rather, it's the fact that I think he's basically running a con, and one with the potential to cause distinct damage to the progressive cause.
I mean this as a provocation—but I also mean it. So if you're provoked, mission accomplished! 

Interesting concept but here is his reasoning.

Like it or not, you don't build a revolution on top of an economy like this. Period. If you want to get anything done, you're going to have to do it the old-fashioned way: through the slow boring of hard wood.
Why do I care about this? Because if you want to make a difference in this country, you need to be prepared for a very long, very frustrating slog. 

Economy like ours, where poverty and income inequality increases every single year?  It was just a few short years ago where we had the Great Recession and were on the precipice of another depression.

As for the long slog, we know how long it takes because Scott Walker won his election in November 2010 and it was not until February of 2011 that our state will be forever changed.  Four whole months to end collective bargaining and make public employees rights to assemble a page in the history books.

They must have been exhausted by the way they would pass things through with minimal debate then run out of the chambers.   It is hard to comprehend what is happening in the flyover states, but pretty much everything they say cant be done is being done.

It is just being done by the Republicans.

Secondly is The Nation Magazine.

While I realize that the Nation as a publication, has endorsed Bernie Sanders, digging a little deeper and we see the problem. One of their excellent writers, Katha Pollitt recently penned an essay stating why she did not vote for Bernie.

Why didn’t Bernie get me? Well, there’s electability: I just don’t believe Americans are ready for a 74-year-old self-described socialist with a long far-left CV who would raise their taxes by quite a lot. By the time the Republicans got finished with him, he’d be the love child of Rosa Luxemburg and the Ayatollah Khomeini, and then it’s hello, President Trump. There’s the question, too, of how much Bernie could actually accomplish. Would he make an effective president, as I think Hillary will—all the more so now that she’s been forced to see that a significant part of the Democratic electorate is to her left?

Here is a well known, well respected writer, who starts a story about a Presidential candidate with absolutely zero evidence and actually like global climate change, all of the information available says the exact opposite.

I know from reading Pollitt, off and on through the years, that she usually puts a premium on facts, it is unfortunate the blindness for Hillary, trumps(pun intended) all in this case.

It seems that it is hard for the establishment pundits to fathom that Middle America likes what Bernie Sanders is selling. The reality is, it is even more than that, Middle Class America has been asking, begging for someone to speak to them in these populist terms(and actually mean it).

President Obama campaigned like that, which helped lead to his popularity.  Unfortunately, with the multi millions he took from Wall St., he littered his cabinet with people like Larry Summers and Rahm Emmanuel., which was like a huge governor on his plans to move the country forward. President Obama's unequaled ability to speak with a wink and nod, let us know that he felt our pain, and was doing what he could under the constraints of the system as it is set up.

All the while, those of us who were paying attention, were listening to the rare politician that is Bernie Sanders, We would sit and listen to Bernie talk WITH us.  Bernie let us know, that he knew we were struggling, because he was also actually struggling along with us.  He understood that working hard guarantees nothing in America but scorn from the Wall St. class and that no amount of words will fix that.  We need action and being part of the people that need to take action, he was as frustrated as we were with the lack of such.    Many progressives would hear Bernie at Fighting Bob Fest or his weekly Town Hall meeting on the Thom Hartmann show, where he would take on all callers and all questions, with a legit answer and kindness.

If only someone like Bernie could be our President.

Then it turned out that Bernie read the tea leaves, and decided to throw his hat into the ring.  He knew from speaking to people all over the country, that the one thing people want more than anything else is to be heard.  As his message was resonating with huge crowds of people, in state after state. the establishment ignored at first then started attacking.

People who spend their time in New York, Washington DC. and the Ivy League schools, could not fathom what was happening throughout the Heartland.  They knew it was Hillary's turn, she was destined to be the first woman President.  

The silliness of the socialist from the tiny state was cute for bit but wore thin quickly with people whose sole goal in life is politics.  The people that are for hire in campaign after campaign, the ones who are elected and the first thing they think when elected is how can I get my next position(yes Democrats do that too), the writers/pundits who think that taking a quick subway ride in New York City to their high rise office, is all of the America they need to see to understand it.

Has Pollitt or any of her peers, ever stepped foot on a farm?  eaten at a supper club?  had a beer at a local watering hole with Pabst on tap?  been to a labor fest in a small town?  attended a school concert where there is k-12 in one building?   had a Saturday night Prime Rib special for $14.95?

Has Hillary, outside of a campaign event?

Bernie has.

The problem though is they all were all in on Hillary.

While Bernie was traveling and talking with large crowds of kids, independents, progressives, etc... Hillary was traveling around speaking AT people and holding private events where the establishment could get cute pictures for their facebook profile.   While Bernie was speaking in LaCrosse, Hillary was holding $3000/plate fundraisers in places like Mexico, Japan and China.  While Bernie was explaining how Wall St. has rigged our economy Hillary was using Wall St. lobbyist after Wall St. Lobbyist to hold fund raisers for her.   We even noticed that every time Bernie had a stance that resonated with the public, Hillary ran to the mics with a "me too" stance on that issue.  While we were remembering all of the times that Bernie Sanders came to Fighting Bob Fest to speak to us, Hillary was giving speeches on Wall St. and making $250,000 for twenty minutes(and refuses to release the transcripts).

We know that Bernie is not perfect, he has had some legitimate missteps, but not that many.   Bernie also would address his missteps immediately.   Unfortunately, the Hillary camp, not content with the few he has had, tried to gin up some that were not.

While we all cringed when Hillary told us that the war criminal Henry Kissinger was her good friend and mentor the Hillary camp was telling us how horrible it as that one of Bernie Sanders staffers looked at Hillary's VAN(which he actually didn't).   While Hillary was running around making racist statements, her supporters were being called "sexist" as often as possible as a way to quash any dissent.

For those to young to remember Henry Kissinger here are some lowlights:

Wonderful ideas and commentary, by Henry Kissinger, "Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.”; "Depopulation should be the highest priority of U.S. foreign policy towards the Third World."; “Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.”; “The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy. And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.”; “The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.” Ahhh, exactly what one would look for in a mentor. If you were trying to become a super-villan.

Despite all of this,the people that we thought were progressives, the people who were given the responsibility of being the voice of the people, have disappeared in order to blindly support Hillary.

We here in the heartland, and progressives all over the country, have to realize that we are on an island with no reinforcements.  Luckily for us, there is strength in numbers if we use it correctly.

Do not give your business, votes or support to people who do not give it back to us.  I have unsubscribed to both magazines and unsubscribed from every email list where the person is a Hillary supporter.   Any support or dollars from now on coming from me, will go to those who support us.

For me, this is a bigger fight than the November election.

Sunday Discussion - Rally Speakers!

I just got back from Fighting Bob Fest, and while it was a great day and some amazing speeches, especially Mike Papantonio,  what was missing from the crowd was diversity and a younger audience.  

While I they had some great speakers and special guests, it is time to start bringing the demographics down. 

Who should they get to speak at a rally like this???    Tell me any name YOU would personally make an effort to go see!  

I have some ideas, I will share later!