The Crossroads

Is America Great Again?

Not even close.

We are one year into Making America Great Again and seven years into the Wisconsin Taxpayer Revolt. We know what this looks like and have reached the crossroads. Is this what we want to become?

Do we want to be a society where everybody is out for himself or herself, looking to amass as much wealth as they can at the expense of those less able or fortunate?

Do we want to live on planet with less clean air and water with a dwindling food supply and a climate that grows ever harsher to human existence?

Do we want to live in a society where the elderly, disabled and different are deemed disposable and expendable?

Do we want to live in communities where women are second or third class citizens whose job it is to pleasure men and have their babies?

Do we want to live in a society where those at the top of the chain are automatically deemed more valuable than those in subordinate positions?

Do we want to end our commitment to universal quality public education?

Do we want to return to a system that only allows white male property owners to decide who gets to govern the country?

Do we want a country that is not respected or supported by the international community?

Do we really want one-party rule in the halls of government?

2018 must be the year we turn away from these goals of Republican governance and return our society back to one based upon mutual respect and taking care of each other.

We need a tax code which requires everyone to pay their fair share to support basic human needs for food security, adequate universal healthcare, a secure infrastructure that supports business ventures and safe commerce, a stable defense for a peaceful world.

We need to protect Social Security and Medicare to make sure that seniors and the disabled do not go back to impoverished lives and dying in back bedrooms. We need to protect retirements for those who can no longer work.

We need to protect the world we live on by doing what science demands to clean our air and water and minimize the disruption of climate change. We need to maximize the use of renewable energy sources to stop the use of fossil fuels.

We need to value those who work by providing safe working environments, family supporting wages and benefits, collective bargaining rights and reasonable working conditions. Family and medical leave policies must recognize the importance strong families play in productive work.

We need strong public schools that support and educate every child to the best of their individual abilities so they can become productive and intelligent members of our communities. We need to recognize that professional and well-supported teachers are critical to the success of their students and compensate our educators accordingly.

We need to finally recognize and promote the equality of women in the workplace and the rest of society by guaranteeing equal pay for equal work and equal access to opportunity. We need an end to sexual harassment and assault everywhere.

We need to end income inequality and value each member of the community for the contribution they can make. The value of one’s opinions should not depend upon the amount they have in the bank. Everyone should be eligible to and encouraged to vote in fair elections. Election districts must be drawn to encourage competitive elections, not to favor incumbent politicians.

We need to expand protections for America’s natural wild areas and make them accessible for all to see and enjoy. Our National and State Parks are the envy of the world and need to be expanded.

We need a return to respectable diplomacy that respects other countries and their cultures and does not seek to impose American values by might.

2018 is the year we can restore the democracy to end the one party rule that favors the few over the many, but only if you vote. Those who stay home elect tyrants and dictators.

Waring R. Fincke is a retired attorney who serves as a guardian for the elderly and disabled.

End One Party Rule

The Alabama Miracle

If they can do it, we can too

We witnessed a political miracle this week when traditionally Republican Alabama voters elected a Democrat to the United States Senate. The demographics of the Alabama areas that shifted political allegiances are fascinating. Many who voted for Donald Trump in the last presidential election switched parties to vote for Doug Jones.

African-American Alabama voters, who apparently stayed home in the last cycle, came out in droves to vote for Doug Jones. They saw through Moore’s racially charged speeches and resisted at the polls. They joined the many disaffected white moderates and independents that voted for Trump and soon saw how he and the GOP sold them out. They were not going to be duped again.

Many will claim that Roy Moore lost because he was a deeply and personally flawed candidate. That he was, but a lot of white, Evangelical Alabama Christians voted for him anyway. They were willing to look past Moore’s accusers who credibly claimed his sexual predilections for young girls, believing instead his professed belief in a Christian God and claims to biblically based racial superiority. For these supporters, his condemnation of abortion and same sex marriage and orientation coupled with his belief that slavery was a hallmark of a great society showed that he shared their moral values.

That President Trump came to embrace Roy Moore in order to salvage his failing efforts to get the GOP tax reform scam through the United State Senate was not enough to swing the election to Moore. Trump’s public support and robo call for Moore appears to have turned the election into a referendum on Trump’s presidency, a presidency has the lowest approval rating of any president in modern American history. Those who might have been willing to close their eyes and vote for Moore were probably pushed to vote for Jones or write in someone else when they realized they would also be supporting a very unpopular and unpleasant president and his failing agenda.

Steve Bannon, the outcast braggart of the alt-right, could not rescue Moore’s candidacy either. Try as he might to rally the white supremacist Alabama Klu Klux Klan believers to support to Moore’s campaign, it was not enough. Bannon’s resort to scare tactics showed he has lost whatever teeth he had when Moore lost. Bannon’s endorsements have now rightly become the kiss of death for anyone seeking political office.

In the end, the Alabama Senate election exposed just how far down into the sewer the alt-right majority in the GOP was willing to go to advance their corrupt agenda. It also showed there is great hope for good Democratic candidates with a message of working together to solve common problems.

Doug Jones has solid government service credentials and a proven record of standing up for justice and equality. He celebrates Alabama’s diversity and brought together a winning coalition of African-Americans, Latinos, middle and working class whites, all of who were undeterred by GOP voter suppression tactics. Without a strong state Democratic Party, he put together a great grass roots campaign that reached into every corner of Alabama with his positive message of inclusion and improving the lives of working families.

The baffling part of the Alabama election is why so many white women and men who call themselves Evangelical Christians supported Moore so fervently. Given the credible accusations of sexual misconduct in his past, I do not understand Moore’s support by so many women. Given Trump’s failures to deliver on his many promises to help white middle and working class men, I find it difficult to understand why they continue to vote against their economic interests. Perhaps his messages of racial superiority and religious purity were enough to blind these voters to the loss of their healthcare insurance, destruction of public education and steep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security looming on the horizon.

The Alabama election outcome has reinforced resistance to the GOP agenda. Solid Democratic candidates are stepping up to offer meaningful alternatives to that agenda in traditionally republican strongholds, including our own. Just in Washington County, there are two Democrats running for seats in the Assembly.

Dennis Degenhardt, the newly retired CEO of Glacier Hills Credit Union, is running in the special election for the 58^th Assembly seat in January. His campaign stresses fiscal responsibility to fix crumbling infrastructure, healthcare as a right not a privilege, support for increased funding for public education, a re-examination of the Foxconn fiasco and working hard for everyday people and their concerns. Learn more at degenhardtforassembly.com

Chris Rahlf is running a strong campaign for the 60^th Assembly seat, stressing healthcare, public education and infrastructure repair with a return to leadership that listens. Chris is already pounding the pavement in anticipation of her 2018 election in the eastern parts of Washington County. Learn more at chrisrahlfforassembly.com

If you are tired of one-party control of our government, there is an alternative and that is bringing back two-party cooperation to address mutual concerns. Alabama has shown the way, it is now up to us.

Waring Fincke is a retired attorney and serves as a guardian for the elderly and disabled.