Trump's Very Bad Week

Trump’s Very Bad Week

There were two very notable revelations about Donald Trump this week that should lead decent people who support him to reconsider and withdraw that support for his re-election. 

 

One came during the raucous presidential candidate debate on Tuesday night watched by over 73 million Americans. Even if you put Trump’s bullying interruptions and personal attacks aside, his repeated refusal to condemn white supremacists exposed what many have long thought. Donald Trump is a full blown racist and depends upon white nationalist racists to secure his re-election. This man clearly does not understand, much less embrace, that we are a pluralistic society with a legal commitment to racial equality that is enshrined in the constitution. 

 

Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacy was compounded by his instructions to the fascist and violent Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” Proud Boy leadership immediately seized upon Trump’s instructions vowing to mobilize and to wait for further instruction from their leader. Reports following the debate show Proud Boy membership increasing as more flock to their banners of hate and violent extremism. Trump’s words were almost immediately turned into a shoulder patch for their body armor.

 

Trump tried to deflect the discussion about violence to “Antifa” as he repeated unfounded claims that those who identify as anti-fascist are more violent than alt-right white supremacists. Trump does not understand that we fought a world war against fascism where many of our relatives paid the ultimate price to secure our liberty. We, as a nation, are committed anti-fascists and will go to war again should it become more than a fringe element of our society. People of good conscience are anti-fascist. 

 

Trump’s reliance on this large part of his political base is even causing staunch congressional GOP supporters to distance themselves from Trump. Perhaps they are beginning to see that after the upcoming election what remains of the Republican party will be blowing tattered in the wind and they need to create some plausible deniability if they want to survive politically.

 

The other revelation that should give those pause who continue supporting Trump is the reporting by the New York Times about their review of Trump’s federal income tax data. The review finally exposes Trump for the con man he is. For many years, his businesses lost substantial amounts of money and he was only rescued by his earnings from the unreality TV show, The Apprentice, and loans which he personally guaranteed. His casinos, golf courses, office buildings and many other endeavors are a falling house of cards. Instead of the successful billionaire business tycoon he claims to be, we now know Trump is hanging on by a thread supported by what amounts to taxpayer bailouts as the secret service follows him to Trump owned properties, renting space and golf carts to protect him.

 

The disclosure of outstanding loans of more than $400 million dollars that Trump personally guaranteed raise serious national security concerns. It appears that most of those loans will come due while Trump is president should he be re-elected to a second four-year term. It is suspected, given the bragging by his sons Eric and Don Jr., that much of that debt is held by Russian banks or individuals. Should that be the case, Trump will be very vulnerable to conditions on deferred repayment agreements by a hostile foreign government. 

 

The tax data exposed many questionable, if not outright illegal, tax avoidance schemes such as his payments to his daughter, Ivanka, of over $600,000 for consulting services all while she was also his employee. The Times reported that the IRS is looking into a multi-million-dollar refund Trump received by advancing claims of business losses. For many of the years covered by the tax data, Trump paid not one cent in federal income taxes through his creative accounting. In 2016 and 2017, he paid just $750 in each of those years in federal income taxes. Those reading this probably paid significantly more than Trump did in federal taxes. I know I did.

 

Trump denies the Times’ reporting, claiming it is just more “fake news.” He claims to have paid millions in federal taxes. All he has to do to show the Times was wrong is to disclose the signature pages of his Forms 1040 that show the amounts of taxes paid in each of the years he filed. I bet he will not produce even those single pages to prove the Times wrong.

 

Nobody likes paying taxes. We do so to support government services determined by our elected representatives to be in the overall public interest. We know that the tax code is weighted in favor of the wealthy and Trump’s tax cuts have put the thumb on that scale pushing it even further in that direction. Even with its imperfections, most of us want a tax code where everyone pays their fair share of the tax burden. Trump’s tax revelations show he took tax avoidance to a whole new level. He has played us all for suckers and losers. There will be some to come to his defense, praising his business acumen in avoiding taxes, but that will not include millions who pay their taxes because it is the right thing to do.

 

I hope that the Commission on Presidential Debates modifies its rules to give the next moderator a mute button so we can have a serious discussion of each candidate’s vision for the future of America without bullying and interruptions. Maybe then Donald Trump will be fully exposed as the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain who just blows smoke.

 

 

Trump Woodward Tapes

Trump Woodward Tapes Tell the Tale

 

Donald Trump’s hubris and arrogance is, once again, on full display as he tries in vain to avoid the fallout from the release of the tapes of his 18 interviews with journalist Bob Woodward. Woodward gained fame with his reporting about the Watergate burglary by people linked directly to then president Richard Nixon. Woodward’s reporting led directly to Nixon’s resignation.

 

For some strange reason, given Woodward’s history and credibility, Trump agreed to recorded interviews with the journalist back in March just as the coronavirus pandemic was exploding across America. In those recorded interviews, Trump clearly states that he knew then how deadly the virus was and that it was easily transmitted through the air. He further told Woodward that he was downplaying the threat posed by the virus so as not to create a panic.

 

At the same time and for some time after, Trump was consistently telling the American people that the virus was no more serious than the common seasonal flu and that it would soon vanish. He continued to downplay the threat even as the infection rates and number of death continued to climb nationwide.

 

When confronted with the tapes, he admitted knowing how deadly the virus is and maintained his claim that he did not want to create a panic. 

 

This is not a question of whether you should believe Woodward’s claims or not. You just have to listen to the tapes and compare them to Trump’s many televised briefings and statements at his mask free and not socially distanced political rallies.

 

Trump’s misleading claims about the virus in the late Spring were coupled with his administration’s lack of significant action to reduce the spread of the virus by promoting masks and social distancing or to invoke the defense production act to produce much needed personal protection equipment and ventilators for first responders and hospital workers. He continued to reject proposals to shut down parts of the economy to reduce large gatherings, instead holding large gatherings of his own.

 

We now approach 200,000 American dead from this killer virus. Most credible scientists in the area of infection control believe that Trump’s lack of action and misleading claims have cost many more deaths than were necessary. 

 

Trump’s lack of credibility and the pressure of the upcoming election make it all but impossible to believe his current claims that a safe and effective vaccine for the virus will be widely available before election day. His own expert scientist and Director of the Centers for Disease Control is only willing to say that the earliest a safe and effective vaccine might be widely available is by the Spring, 2021. Trump further strains credibility when he claims the scientist was mistaken or misinformed. 

 

The recent statements by Trump’s handpicked CDC spokesperson, about the agency’s anti-Trump bias and misinformation, followed by his recent leave of absence casts further suspicion on Trump’s assertions. The discredited spokesperson’s job was to bring CDC statements more in line with Trump’s pronouncements and he failed to accomplish that or even come close. 

 

All of this is convincing proof that Trump and his enablers reject science and those who have studied and worked on these problems all of their working lives in favor of a political agenda aimed at securing reelection in November. This anti-science agenda and the propaganda that followed led America’s premier scientific publication, Scientific American, to endorse Joe Biden in the upcoming election. Scientific American has never endorsed a presidential candidate before in its 175-year history. 

 

Trump has continued to claim that the economy must be protected by keeping it open and running. The economy will not return to any degree of normalcy unless and until the virus is brought under control with a safe and effective vaccine. It is somewhat reassuring that the pharmaceutical companies tasked with developing, testing and manufacturing the vaccine have all signed a pledge not to bow to political pressure for a quick fix or early release. They all agreed not to release a product that is not proven to be safe and effective. 

 

Notwithstanding the overwhelming scientific evidence on the need for masks and social distancing to reduce the spread, Trump’s Attorney General is now suggesting that masks requirements are a major civil rights violation. Trump now suggests that forced quarantine restrictions are akin to slavery. Trump’s comment at the recent ABC television Q and A with undecided Pennsylvania voters that the virus will be defeated by “herd mentality” shows his ignorance of the science.

 

Americans deserve a President who levels with them about what is happening, one who tells the truth and accepts responsibility for his actions. Donald Trump is not up to the task.

Collective Progress

 Labor Day Recalls Collective Progress

 

This Labor Day weekend brings a time to reflect on how modern America was built by a thriving middle class, many of whom belonged to and benefited from union membership. 

            

My grandfather was part of the early labor union movement in the 1920s and 1930s and advocated for a movement not only concerned with wages and safe working conditions, but also education, healthcare, civil rights and political involvement for working people. He founded a college for labor union organizers and later a private high school the children of union workers that was in the forefront of progressive education.

 

I worked my way through the end of my undergraduate college education and all of my years in law school as a proud member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), Local 251, AFL-CIO in Madison in the early 1970s. The work was hard, with long late-night hours, and paid very well for the times. The union negotiated the pay scales and ensured the work was safely performed. I was trained my more experienced brothers and sisters.  My work putting on traveling shows for rock stars, ice shows, auto shows, ice hockey games, and Broadway musicals helped keep my family fed. I still have my union card.

 

As a lawyer, I am a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin. Not usually thought of as a labor union, the State Bar does look out for its members, lobbies for and against legislation affecting the profession and judicial system, provides ethics advice and financial benefits like insurance and discounts on purchases. I was Chair of the Bar’s Criminal Law Section in the early 2000s and helped lead the effort to defeat legislation that would have reinstituted the death penalty in Wisconsin. 

 

The common thread throughout is the notion that collectively working people in all of our society’s economic classes can bring about change for the collective good that individuals could not achieve on their own. 

 

In the current political climate, we seem to have forgotten the need for collective responses to broad collective threats. Nowhere is this more evident than in our lack of collective response to the Corona virus pandemic. The recognition of the need for a universal, collective response has been subverted by outmoded beliefs in individual freedom and autonomy.

 

I was born at the end of World War II. As a child, I can remember my parents talking about the sacrifices they had to make in order to focus on winning the war against fascism. Food was rationed, gasoline was rationed, certain building materials were rationed or not available at all, whole industries were converted from peace-time to war-time production, some individual freedoms were curtailed. Those of us who lived on the coasts had blackouts at night so enemy submarines and aircraft could not see the lights. The sacrifices were universal, went on for years and impacted every aspect of society in pursuit of a single goal, to win the war. 

 

Fortunately, we as a nation have not had to face anything near these lengthy and universal sacrifices since the end of World War II. There have been smaller, shorter lived sacrifices, like those we experienced after 9/11, but they only impacted proportionally few of us.  Individual freedoms have increased as a result and have taken over the body politic. We have descended into more tribal political stances and the correspondingly smaller collective actions pursue single issue agendas. We have forgotten the collective good as a core value.

 

Our upcoming presidential and congressional elections will pit two, very different, ideologies and the outcome will define our collective future for decades. 

 

Donald Trump’s view is that we are all in this struggle for what is best for individuals as they determine for themselves. His is a view of rugged individualism and individual success. “Let me get whatever I can for myself without regard for anyone else.” He advocates the use of government to support individual aggrandizement. He wants to end government interference with business and personal freedoms so that each of us can do as we please. 

 

Joe Biden’s world view is much more collectively oriented. He supports organized labor, environmental regulation to combat climate change, more universal access to healthcare and a host of other goals that would make America better for all of us, not just those who share a privileged status. His is not a Bernie Sanders’ democratic socialist agenda, but a more moderate, yet still inclusive, agenda where each of can work to succeed while looking out for and after the less fortunate and less abled. 

 

Should Trump secure re-election, we will ultimately be forced to require a period of lengthy universal sacrifice in order to undo the damage he will have caused to the republic and the democratic principles upon which it was founded. I hope it does not come to that.

Vote Biden and Harris

 Biden and Harris Deserve Your Vote

 

The Democratic National Convention this past week focused on all of the correct issues and highlighted the stark differences between our current president and the man who would replace him. 

 

The Democrats’ candidates, former Vice President Joe Biden and current U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, helped frame the new democratic coalition’s positions on the issues important to most Americans while showing their humanity, compassion and empathy. 

 

Over the past week, Democrats showed they value inclusiveness and diversity, opening their hearts to all Americans regardless of station, economic status, race or sexual orientation. Everyday working people were given a voice alongside of the wealthy and politically powerful. People of various hues and those across the gender spectrum highlighted America’s strengths and opportunities. No one was left behind or out.

 

To be sure, Democratic knives came out for the failings of the current administration to effectively address the current pandemic, to help shape an economy that works for everyone, to protect us from foreign intervention in our democracy, and to obey the rule of law. The attacks were grounded in policy failings, incompetence and corruption that are the hallmarks of Trump and his enablers. 

 

The Democratic vision for our future addresses these failings with bold proposals to contain and defeat Covid-19, to restore the economy by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and to create new opportunities and jobs while combatting climate change by investing in renewable energy and drastically cutting back on the use of carbon-based fuels. Voter suppression and interference in our elections will be eliminated. America’s standing as a world leader will be re-established as we stand with our allies and against our adversaries again.

 

These initiatives will be coupled with a renewed emphasis on leveling our playing fields through recognizing and ending systemic racism and income inequality. Expanding access to affordable health care for every American will increase opportunities for more to be productive members of society. These efforts will be paid for by making the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes and raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

 

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris also introduced themselves to the American people by sharing the high and low lights of their stories. They opened themselves so that we can rest assured that they are folks that care about all of us and are willing and able to do the hard work necessary to move us forward. 

 

Biden’s history of familial loss and grief and what he did to move past them shows his resilience and purpose. The loss of his first wife and children stays with him and helps him relate to and help others experiencing similar loss. His decades of public service give him a breadth of understanding of the issues American face and how to navigate the governmental system to address them effectively. His acceptance speech on Thursday night laid to rest any claims about his ability to command and deliver what he believes in and how he plans to move us all forward. Even Fox News pundits thought his speech was very effective, “a home run.” 

 

Kamala Harris made history as the first woman of color and east Asian ancestry to be nominated for vice-president by a major political party. Her background and life experiences make her uniquely qualified to address racial inequality and systemic racism, especially in the criminal justice system. She is strong and tenacious and provides a progressive slant to Biden’s more centrist positions. She will help make him a better president.

 

The most telling part of Biden’s acceptance speech came as he sought to reassure Americans that he would be the president for everyone, not just those who vote for him. That being said, he reminded us of the choices we will have to make moving forward.

 

“America is at an inflection point,” he said. “A time of real peril, but of extraordinary possibilities. We can choose the path of becoming angrier, less hopeful, and more divided. A path of shadow and suspicion. Or we can choose a different path, and together, take this chance to heal, to be reborn, to unite. A path of hope and light. This is a life-changing election that will determine America’s future for a very long time. Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy. They are all on the ballot. Who we are as a nation. What we stand for. And most importantly, who we want to be. That’s all on the ballot. And the choice could not be clearer.”

 

This is a ticket and a vision we can all support. 

Mask Compliance Excuses

 Government Mask Mandate Compliance Excuses Debunked

 

I was nine when the US hit the top of the polio epidemic in 1954. During the 1940s and 50s polio infections spiked during the summer and I can remember the fear my mother expressed about our going out, swimming or having picnics. I remember being told I could not go some places as a result. While the polio death totals did not come close to the number of current Covid-19 deaths, polio caused long lasting damage.

 

Our caution was increased by the experience of the family whose house was on the other side of our back fence. Their polio infected daughter lived in their living room in an iron lung that kept her alive by forcing air into her lungs until she died. While many survived polio, most who did were left with lifelong effects from the paralysis they suffered. 

 

I cannot remember if there was a concerted effort to resist the cautionary measures adopted to reduce polio’s spread like we see now. The fear was not erased until the now universal vaccine came out and was proven effective. Thank you, Dr. Jonas Sauk for refusing to patent his vaccine formula so it could be made available to all.

 

In our current Covid -19 pandemic, we see misplaced resistance to the simplest of measures shown to effectively reduce the virus’ spread. Masks and social distancing are no brainers. 

 

Unfortunately, some businesses want to be seen as honoring the current mask mandate while giving a “wink and a nod’ to those who refuse to wear one, effectively inviting the unmasked in to their establishments. Businesses can and should refuse entry to those who refuse to mask up, even if the person has a valid medical reason not to wear one in order to protect others. If they want to allow entry of a maskless person by honoring a medical reason, the best practice is to require proof of the claimed medical justification before allowing entry. 

 

Signs have appeared on local business doors indicating that masks are required to enter, but noting that they are prohibited from asking those not wearing one why they are not complying with the requirement. The signage lists a number of “legal” reasons they cannot or will not ask why the customer is not masked up. None of them are valid.

 

The most common “wink and nod” excuse offered is that asking for a valid medical reason for not wearing a mask or requiring proof of a qualifying medical condition is a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA protects your medical information in the hands of healthcare providers and insurers from disclosure without your consent. It does not apply to and cannot be used by fast food restaurants or gyms to justify not asking why a potential customer is not masked.

 

The next erroneous “legal” justification used to not ask is a claimed reliance upon the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). The ADA prohibits public facilities from discriminating against those with recognized disabilities and requires accommodations for those with disabilities who use the facility. Reasonable accommodations are already in place with curbside pick-up or online ordering with delivery for those who cannot wear masks. Neither provision prohibits asking the unmasked why they are not wearing one or requiring proof of a qualifying disability. Businesses are free to refuse entry to one not wearing a mask as long as they refuse entry to all those not wearing one. 

 

The most creative excuse offered for not asking for justification for going maskless is reliance upon the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This provision of the Bill of Rights applies only to unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. It does not apply at all to private businesses or public establishments and most certainly does not prohibit one from asking why you are not wearing a mask.

 

Finally, there is the claim that asking why you are not wearing a mask violates your right to privacy. We all have a limited right to privacy. It is not absolute. You have to disclose your identity in order to vote. You must prove who you are by showing a driver’s license when stopped for a traffic violation. We all relinquish certain private matters when we venture into public spaces. Nothing in the small recognized bubble of privacy we have in public spaces prohibits others from merely asking for your justification for not wearing a mask before being allowed to enter a business establishment.

 

All of these claimed “legal” reasons for not asking merely cover up the business owner’s unhappiness about having to exclude a potential customer from entering their business and spending their money because of a government-imposed measure put in place to protect our health. Get over it and protect yourself, your employees and your masked customers.

Mask Mandates are Constitutional

My column in today’s West Bend Daily News.

Government mask mandates don’t violate constitutional rights

Many on the conservative side of the political spectrum claim that government mandates to wear a mask violate their individual constitutional rights.

A not-so-shining example of these claims was evident at the recent meeting of the Washington County Board of Supervisors, where all the members of the board met in a small room, sitting in their usual close-to-each-other seats with not one wearing a mask. In that clearly unsafe setting, the board debated Resolution 17 that reminded the members of the oath they took to defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and Wisconsin. Much of the debate centered around their claimed duty to protect our citizens from overreaching state mandates requiring masks because they violate an individual’s constitutional right to “liberty.” The so-called “sanctuary” resolution passed unanimously.

Claims that the Constitution prohibits requiring individuals to wear a mask are ridiculous and wrong.

Many of these so-called constitutional arguments are based on a misunderstanding of the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution and the similar provisions of Wisconsin’s Constitution. These provisions generally prohibit government from passing laws impinging on freedom of speech, press, petition, assembly and religion. A mask does not keep you from expressing yourself. It may limit where and how you can speak, but these “time and place” restrictions are not prohibited unless they discriminate based upon the content of the speech. You cannot campaign within certain distance of a polling location is a perfect example.

First Amendment liberties are not absolute. All constitutional rights are subject to the government’s authority to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public according to the Supreme Court in cases like Prince v. Massachusetts.

Similarly, claims that mask mandates violate the “right to liberty” are just as ill-conceived. The right to liberty is really an embodiment of the principle of individual autonomy summarized succinctly in the phrase, “my body, my choice.”

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Jacobson v. Massachusetts puts the argument that only you can control your body in the scrap heap. The court ruled that the state could require smallpox vaccinations without violating Jacobsen’s right to personal liberty or “the inherent right of every freeman to care for his own body and health in such way as to him seems best.”

The court continued, “There are manifold restraints to which every person is necessarily subject for the common good. On any other basis, organized society could not exist with safety to its members.” State courts have also ruled that an individual with active tuberculosis could be forcibly detained in a hospital for appropriate medical treatment.

This “police power” doctrine commands that all constitutional rights, including liberty, speech, assembly, freedom of movement or autonomy are held on condition that they do not endanger others or the public welfare.

A general pandemic, like the one in which we currently live where a deadly communicable disease can be transmitted by those who show no symptoms, justifies a wide range of reasonable restrictions on our liberties. Believing otherwise turns the Constitution into a suicide pact.

The government can force you to wear a mask to protect others, just like it can ban smoking in public or make you use the seat belt in your car. Doing so does not violate your constitutional rights. 

States, under the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution, retain broad powers to protect the health and safety of their citizens, even if the federal government cannot or does not act.

Businesses that require masks for their employees and customers do not violate individual rights either as long as the requirements are applied in a manner that does not discriminate against a protected class. Think about it as “no shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service.”

Those who continue to believe that wearing a mask is just a personal choice have no respect and do not care about their fellow citizens. They should stop claiming a mantle of constitutional right to justify their selfishness.My column in today’s West Bend Daily News.

Government mask mandates don’t violate constitutional rights

Many on the conservative side of the political spectrum claim that government mandates to wear a mask violate their individual constitutional rights.

A not-so-shining example of these claims was evident at the recent meeting of the Washington County Board of Supervisors, where all the members of the board met in a small room, sitting in their usual close-to-each-other seats with not one wearing a mask. In that clearly unsafe setting, the board debated Resolution 17 that reminded the members of the oath they took to defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and Wisconsin. Much of the debate centered around their claimed duty to protect our citizens from overreaching state mandates requiring masks because they violate an individual’s constitutional right to “liberty.” The so-called “sanctuary” resolution passed unanimously.

Claims that the Constitution prohibits requiring individuals to wear a mask are ridiculous and wrong.

Many of these so-called constitutional arguments are based on a misunderstanding of the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution and the similar provisions of Wisconsin’s Constitution. These provisions generally prohibit government from passing laws impinging on freedom of speech, press, petition, assembly and religion. A mask does not keep you from expressing yourself. It may limit where and how you can speak, but these “time and place” restrictions are not prohibited unless they discriminate based upon the content of the speech. You cannot campaign within certain distance of a polling location is a perfect example.

First Amendment liberties are not absolute. All constitutional rights are subject to the government’s authority to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public according to the Supreme Court in cases like Prince v. Massachusetts.

Similarly, claims that mask mandates violate the “right to liberty” are just as ill-conceived. The right to liberty is really an embodiment of the principle of individual autonomy summarized succinctly in the phrase, “my body, my choice.”

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Jacobson v. Massachusetts puts the argument that only you can control your body in the scrap heap. The court ruled that the state could require smallpox vaccinations without violating Jacobsen’s right to personal liberty or “the inherent right of every freeman to care for his own body and health in such way as to him seems best.”

The court continued, “There are manifold restraints to which every person is necessarily subject for the common good. On any other basis, organized society could not exist with safety to its members.” State courts have also ruled that an individual with active tuberculosis could be forcibly detained in a hospital for appropriate medical treatment.

This “police power” doctrine commands that all constitutional rights, including liberty, speech, assembly, freedom of movement or autonomy are held on condition that they do not endanger others or the public welfare.

A general pandemic, like the one in which we currently live where a deadly communicable disease can be transmitted by those who show no symptoms, justifies a wide range of reasonable restrictions on our liberties. Believing otherwise turns the Constitution into a suicide pact.

The government can force you to wear a mask to protect others, just like it can ban smoking in public or make you use the seat belt in your car. Doing so does not violate your constitutional rights. 

States, under the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution, retain broad powers to protect the health and safety of their citizens, even if the federal government cannot or does not act.

Businesses that require masks for their employees and customers do not violate individual rights either as long as the requirements are applied in a manner that does not discriminate against a protected class. Think about it as “no shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service.”

Those who continue to believe that wearing a mask is just a personal choice have no respect and do not care about their fellow citizens. They should stop claiming a mantle of constitutional right to justify their selfishness.

Supporting Biden

This Bernie Sanders Supporter is voting for Biden

The overriding goal is to oust Trump

My political views have shifted significantly over seven decades. I was raised in southern California by parents who wholeheartedly supported the Republican Party. My mother told me the only Democrat she ever voted for was FDR. My dad believed his business depended on Republicans being in control. As a child and into high school, this was what I knew.

Unable to handle what they had raised, I was sent off to the very progressive high school my dad’s brother ran in western Massachusetts. At Buxton, I met students and faculty with very different political and social views. Instead of the Big Bands, we listened to classical music, the Weavers and Woody Guthrie. I learned union songs, about my family’s history in progressive education and their support for unions and civil rights. My mother cried when I came home for the summer in my sophomore year with hair longer than my usual buzz cut. My dad was furious when I questioned the wisdom of building nuclear arms to win the cold war. 

After high school and a short stint at an ivy league college, I dropped out and joined VISTA. I spent five years in the south organizing voter registration drives, marches on local school boards demanding an end to segregated schools and challenging the entrenched power systems oppressing poor people of color. I supported the War on Poverty launched by Lyndon Johnson and watched it be co-opted by Republicans and Southern Democrats.

I finished college in Madison and went to the UW Law School to learn how to change the system using the rules written by those in power. I marched to end the war, in support of civil rights and for women’s’ equality. I found my passion for justice in criminal law courses and knew I wanted to defend the defenseless from the might of the government. I spent 37 years making law enforcement follow their own rules.

Along the way, I also picked up a passion for the environment and learned of the social injustices imposed on native tribes in northern Wisconsin. That led me from working on the fringes of the Democratic party into a decade of working as a Green. I helped form the Wisconsin Greens and was active with the Milwaukee Greens in the 1990s. I found a home in the Green Ten Key Values. I worked with the national Green Committees of Correspondence and helped draft position papers adding flesh to a political platform rooted in grassroots activism. I fought against the early calls for the formation of a national Green Party because I thought it too early to run national candidates when local offices were more important to advancing the Green agenda. I still hold to that belief. 

I came back to the Democratic Party when I was elected Chair of the Wisconsin Bar’s Criminal Law Section and it took a stand against re-introduction of the death penalty being floated in the Wisconsin Legislature. I recognized that in our two-party system, the only way to defeat state sponsored killing was to support the Democrats that opposed it. 

I did not become actively involved as a local Democrat until the first Obama campaign. In Barack Obama, I saw a leader with a vision of grass roots power and a willingness to embrace and champion many of the issues I hold dear. I worked hard to get him and Joe Biden elected to the White House. I took to heart the campaign’s message that grass roots activism needed to continue after the election to support the issues raised during the campaign. 

We formed a series of local progressive groups to take on local issues with our public schools and others. We were independent of the local Dems, but many of their members were active with us. 

When Scott Walker got elected and Act 10 passed in the middle of the night, the war was on. Our independent progressive groups saw the need to unify progressive independents with the local Dems. We organized, put forward a slate and won the election for the leadership of the Washington County Democratic Party. We opened an office on West Bend’s Main Street and began to organize. We are still at it. Our office and its model of progressive community grass roots activism has been emulated in many other Wisconsin counties.

We, like other Democrats, split between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in 2016. When Clinton won the nomination, I tried to rally other Bernie supporters to her campaign knowing that a Trump presidency was not going to be good for our democracy. We did not bring enough progressives on board to carry the state.

I supported Bernie Sanders in the current campaign too because his platform is more sweeping and progressive than Joe Biden’s. Bernie chose to end his campaign and threw his support behind Biden when it became clear that he could not prevail at the Democratic Convention. Bernie understands clearly that the overriding issue in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and rid our government of his enablers. After that happens, we can work to enact a more progressive agenda that Biden is beginning to embrace.

Now is not the time to ride the horse of political purity. We cannot survive another four years of the misogynistic Trump oligarchy and its pervasive corruption. We cannot allow Russia and other foreign interests to continue to hold power over our leaders. We must restore American leadership in a world facing a pandemic. We need to unite around the rule of law and equal justice for all.

We need to unify and work to elect Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.