Fair Maps

 It is Time for Fair Maps

 

The current crop of Republican members of the House of Representatives Freedom Caucus cannot get anything done. Once more they played chicken, trying to shut down our government by refusing to vote for a continuing resolution that keeps basic funding levels for operations in place. 

 

Democrats and Republicans in the Senate cobbled together a last-minute agreement that keeps the lights on until March. Newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La) brought the Senate agreement to the House floor by suspending the rules of the House. He then needed Democratic votes to add to those in his caucus who still have some sense. In the end, 314 House members voted to support the agreement and send it on to President Biden for his signature averting a shut down. The GOP hard right game of chicken will be on us again come March.

 

Of the 314, 107 Republicans were joined by 207 Democrats to get the job done. Mike Johnson may well lose his speaker’s gavel as a result if the Freedom Caucus has its way. 

 

The Wisconsin delegation in the House is made up of eight representatives. Two are Democrats, Gwen Moore, and Mark Pocan. They both voted to keep the government running. Six are Republicans, Scott Fitzgerald (our Congressman), Mike Gallagher, Brian Steil, Tom Tiffany, Derrick Van Orden and our former state senator, Glenn Grothman. All six voted to shut the government down. All six are members of the Freedom Caucus. 

 

The Wisconsin gang of six are fully aligned with the former occupant of the White House who lost his last election and control of the Senate in the last mid-terms. How he manages to control these puppets and keep the remaining GOP co-conspirators in his thrall is a continuing mystery. What the six hope to gain by shutting down our government is also elusive. 

 

The Freedom Caucus does not have the votes in the House to get anything done. All they can accomplish is disruption and chaos and they are very good at both. They have their sights set on holding up funding to support the governments of Ukraine and Israel hoping to secure some radical changes to our immigration policy or, at least, keep it on a front burner hoping to hurt President Biden’s re-election effort. In the end, they will cave or be outflanked as they always are. 

 

The only way to get the Wisconsin gang of six out of Congress is to redraw their district maps which all but guarantee their re-elections. Their districtas are heavily gerrymandered, packing them with GOP voters.

 

Our Wisconsin Supreme Court has already declared our state’s legislative districts unconstitutional under rules in our state constitution and ordered new district maps be drawn before the next election. That decision will rid us of the most gerrymandered state legislative districts in the country. 

 

This week, several voters filed a petition with the state Supreme Court asking it to declare the maps of Wisconsin’s congressional districts unconstitutional as well using the rationale of Court’s previous decision as support. Should the Court take up the petition and void the congressional district maps, we might just end up with a much more balanced congressional delegation going forward. 

 

The Wisconsin GOP death grip on legislative power may well be headed to the dust bin of history where it rightfully belongs if the Court’s decisions hold. 

 

New, fair maps of state legislative and congressional districts should give voters a greater choice on the policies and platforms to be followed by our elected representatives. The outcomes of truly contested elections across the state will more clearly reflect the will of the people than they do presently. 

 

As long as our Supreme Court bases its decisions in these cases on the Wisconsin Constitution’s rules governing legislative district boundaries, they should be immune from scrutiny in Federal Courts where different more GOP friendly rules apply to judicial oversight of elections.

 

While we are in the throes of a cold snowy winter, the long cold winter of GOP control of Wisconsin government and a majority of its congressional seats may soon be coming to the heated end it deserves. 

 

For those of us who took up the cudgel when Scott Walker ushered in this latest aberration in Wisconsin’s progressive political history, these changes cannot come soon enough.

 

Welcome 2024

 Welcome 2024

 

We welcome the new year with great anticipation. 2024 brings an acid test to determine if our great experiment in democratic governance continues or will be swept aside by authoritarian populism.

 

We have reached a crossroads. We, the people, get to decide how we want to be governed going forward. 

 

Our country has evolved over its 200 year plus run into one where we look out for one another and especially those less fortunate. We all contribute so that fewer and fewer get left behind. We all contribute to the social safety net. We all contribute to the preservation of the greater good. We all contribute so that all have access to public education. We all contribute so that the elderly and infirm have access to quality healthcare. We all contribute to services that keep us safe. We all contribute to provide power and water to our homes. We all contribute so we can travel safely and transact our business affairs fairly. We all contribute because a rising tide raises all boats. These contributions are what makes America great. It does not need to be made so again, especially in pursuit of white Christian nationalism.

 

Our current pluralistic society is in real danger of being subverted into one that sacrifices some on the altar of personal responsibility and individual freedom. There are among us, and there have always been, those who resent having to take care of others. Motivated by self-aggrandizement or greed, others are seen as those from whom profit can be made and otherwise ignored. They are the takers, not the helpers. 

 

A former occupant of the White House has risen to power, unleashing all that is the worst in us by example and permission. He lies, cheats, bullies, and steals. He mocks those who are different and appeals to baser instincts. He promises, but never delivers. He ignores most social norms and civilities. He conspires with fellow travelers to overthrow institutions that have stood the test of time. He ignores laws meant to preserve an orderly society. He takes advantage of those who fall for his chicanery. Worst of all, our con-in-chief has emboldened a generation of those who would emulate his rise to power seeking their own ascendancy. 

 

Some in his circle have seen the light and abandoned ship. Liz Chaney and Chris Christie, among other renegade republicans, are taking the opportunity to call the former president out for his transgressions. They urge what is left of the conservative movement to go back to its roots and eschew the populist fever. Unfortunately, their voices are too few and present no viable alternatives. 

 

While questions of legitimacy, eligibility, and criminal accountability play out in our courts of law, the election cycle winds on. We cannot be sure that our courts will get it right or get it done in time. 

 

We, the people, are left with but one choice. We must raise our voices and rally more and more to our flag to preserve our democracy. We must plan and work to get every like-minded soul on our shores to the polls in every precinct in the land to cast our votes for a pluralistic democracy. We must oust all those who would end our grand experiment from the seats of government and replace them with people who care about others. An overwhelming turnout on election day will ensure our democracy survives and flourishes. A close vote continues the divide and dissention. 

 

We welcome 2024 as the year we preserve our best ways of life and reject authoritarian dictatorship. Welcome 2024

 

We welcome the new year with great anticipation. 2024 brings an acid test to determine if our great experiment in democratic governance continues or will be swept aside by authoritarian populism.

 

We have reached a crossroads. We, the people, get to decide how we want to be governed going forward. 

 

Our country has evolved over its 200 year plus run into one where we look out for one another and especially those less fortunate. We all contribute so that fewer and fewer get left behind. We all contribute to the social safety net. We all contribute to the preservation of the greater good. We all contribute so that all have access to public education. We all contribute so that the elderly and infirm have access to quality healthcare. We all contribute to services that keep us safe. We all contribute to provide power and water to our homes. We all contribute so we can travel safely and transact our business affairs fairly. We all contribute because a rising tide raises all boats. These contributions are what makes America great. It does not need to be made so again, especially in pursuit of white Christian nationalism.

 

Our current pluralistic society is in real danger of being subverted into one that sacrifices some on the altar of personal responsibility and individual freedom. There are among us, and there have always been, those who resent having to take care of others. Motivated by self-aggrandizement or greed, others are seen as those from whom profit can be made and otherwise ignored. They are the takers, not the helpers. 

 

A former occupant of the White House has risen to power, unleashing all that is the worst in us by example and permission. He lies, cheats, bullies, and steals. He mocks those who are different and appeals to baser instincts. He promises, but never delivers. He ignores most social norms and civilities. He conspires with fellow travelers to overthrow institutions that have stood the test of time. He ignores laws meant to preserve an orderly society. He takes advantage of those who fall for his chicanery. Worst of all, our con-in-chief has emboldened a generation of those who would emulate his rise to power seeking their own ascendancy. 

 

Some in his circle have seen the light and abandoned ship. Liz Chaney and Chris Christie, among other renegade republicans, are taking the opportunity to call the former president out for his transgressions. They urge what is left of the conservative movement to go back to its roots and eschew the populist fever. Unfortunately, their voices are too few and present no viable alternatives. 

 

While questions of legitimacy, eligibility, and criminal accountability play out in our courts of law, the election cycle winds on. We cannot be sure that our courts will get it right or get it done in time. 

 

We, the people, are left with but one choice. We must raise our voices and rally more and more to our flag to preserve our democracy. We must plan and work to get every like-minded soul on our shores to the polls in every precinct in the land to cast our votes for a pluralistic democracy. We must oust all those who would end our grand experiment from the seats of government and replace them with people who care about others. An overwhelming turnout on election day will ensure our democracy survives and flourishes. A close vote continues the divide and dissention. 

 

We welcome 2024 as the year we preserve our best ways of life and reject authoritarian dictatorship.

Celebrate

 Celebrate The Season

 

The celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ is here once more along with Kwanza, Hanukah, the Winter Solstice, and many other year-end celebrations. Although I was raised in the Episcopal Church, I no longer subscribe to biblical Christianity. I favor a spirituality based on protecting Mother Earth and all of those who are blessed to live on her. My beliefs are allowed under our pluralistic democratic government which welcomes all beliefs and faiths, including none at all. 

 

There are some among us who believe the United States is, or should be, a Christian country. While many of our founders were practicing Christians, they clearly believed our democracy was better served by allowing all faiths and beliefs to exist, side by side. That explains the absence of references to “God” and an explicit prohibition of any state sanctioned religion in our founding documents. The separation of church and state was so important to the founders that the very first amendment to the Constitution found in the Bill of Rights starts with, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…..”

 

Subsequent interpretations of the Bill of Rights by the U.S. Supreme Court made the First Amendment language prohibiting state sanctioned religions enforceable against state and local governments as well. 

 

We join with those who celebrate any or all these year-end holidays wishing for peace and joy to all in the coming year. 

 

Celebratory aspirations in mind, we need to continue to resist those who would do away with our pluralistic democracy in favor of white Christian nationalism led by an authoritarian wannabe dictator. 

 

We now live in a perilous time where those claiming to be called by some higher power would undo centuries of pluralistic self-government in favor of their specific belief system to the exclusion of all others. We cannot vote based upon President Biden’s age. We must vote to preserve what we already have, not what some want us to believe the authoritarian savior will bring. 

 

If you cherish women, vote to preserve their bodily autonomy and freedom to choose whether to bring a child into her life. If you cherish women, vote to continue their march towards economic and social equality with men.

 

If you cherish children and the adults charged with their care, vote to end the scourge of gun violence that takes far too many way too soon. Vote for paid family leave and universal healthcare. 

 

If you recognize gender is fluid and not binary, vote to allow all those to live the lives they must in the gender roles best suited to each.

 

If you value diversity, equity, and inclusion in all its iterations, vote for those who support teaching and learning from history to help prevent mistakes made in the past.

 

If you value the ability to read books that will expand your horizons and add to your knowledge of human history and the human condition, vote to end book bans, and support free expression of ideas. 

 

If you value helping everyone reach their full potential, vote for those who support public education for all and not those who would starve our public educational institutions in favor of private religious ones. 

 

If you value those who work, vote for those who support collective bargaining rights for working people so they may level the playing field with their employers and come to enjoy a living wage and safe working conditions. 

 

If you value your home on Mother Earth, vote for those who would protect her from the ravages of climate change.

 

If you want state and federal governments that work for all of us and not a privileged few, vote for those willing to do that and turn those who want to dismantle our governing bodies out of office. 

 

The upcoming elections loom large over our collective holiday celebrations. Celebrate how you choose and follow the traditions you choose. Always remember that you get to choose how you celebrate your faith because of where you live and under a government that does not dictate how you must make that choice. 

 

Happy Holidays.

Choices

 We Have Choices

 

In the good old days, being Speaker of the House or a United States Senator were jobs worth seeking and having. Not so much these days. 

 

First, we saw the debacle around Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) rise and fall. It took the GOP caucus 15 votes to elect McCarthy as Speaker after squeaking out a razor thin majority in the last congressional election. McCarthy had to give away what little power he might have had as the Speaker to bring the hard right Freedom Caucus on board. In the end, those concessions were his undoing after he crafted a way to keep the government open without sticking to the hard right demands from the Freedom folks to use the spending bills as leverage for their social agenda. McCarthy was voted out and has just announced he will retire from Congress at the end of the month. 

 

After McCarthy’s ouster, several GOP House members ran for the post, but none could secure the votes needed to take the reins. GOP House leader Patrick McHenry (R-NC) presided over this series of failed elections as interim Speaker. He too has announced his intention to leave the House.

 

Finally, a little-known House member, Mike Johnson (R-LA), emerged as the only one willing to give it a try. He is a neo-conservative, evangelical Christian who represents all the hard right Freedom members might have asked for from their Speaker. Faced with another potential government shut-down, Johnson crafted an 11^thhour, short-term solution to keep basic governmental functions up and running while kicking aid for Ukraine and Israel down to road for stand-alone votes. That was enough to bring Democrats on board to pass the bills, but this move will probably end his time in the Speaker’s chair as the hard right members still want to use their bills to leverage support for their anti-abortion, anti LBGTQI, anti-Ukraine, pro authoritarian Christian Nationalism, Make America White Again agenda.

 

Since those bills were passed, the House has once more become paralyzed and ineffectual in finding anyway forward towards responsible governance. Aid to Ukraine and Israel must pass the House to keep those countries and democracy safe. So far, Johnson has not found a way to get that done and may well need democratic votes once more to make it happen. If he turns again to cross the aisle, his time as Speaker will surely end. 

 

Over in the Senate, Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has finally caved to the pressure from his fellow republican and democratic senators and lifted his 10-month hold on approval of senior military promotions. He held up all these promotions of highly qualified commanders to protest military support for member abortions. His block created vacancies in senior positions in all the branches of our armed services, leaving important decisions to less seasoned minor ranking officers and several branches without top commanders. While he released the blocks on three-star officers and below, his blocks remain for four-star admirals and generals who would lead their respective branches and serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Tuberville represents yet another GOP leader willing to use the power of his office to wreak significant damage to our government and national security to leverage an agenda opposed by most Americans. 

 

Other GOP intransigence in the Senate has caused Vice-President Harris to cast a new record of tie breaking votes to secure passage of bills aimed at improving the lives of working citizens.

 

Even with GOP congressional craziness, President Biden has been able to get a lot done at home and to safeguard democracy abroad. We have his leadership and experience to thank for the infrastructure bills that are now fixing American roads, bridges, ports, and airports. We have him to thank for our newfound ability to negotiate drug prices for seniors on Medicare which has already brought the cost of life-saving insulin down to no more than $35 a bottle. We have his administration to thank for lower inflation and significantly lower gas prices. We have him to thank for the lowest unemployment rates in decades as more manufacturing and supply chains have been repatriated. We have him to thank for protection of women’s reproductive healthcare and the rights of LBGTQI Americans. We have him to thank for student debt relief. We have him to thank for aggressive action to mitigate climate change and protection of our shared environment. 

 

As elections loom, think about what matters to you and your family. We have a choice between an authoritarian would be dictator and a calm reasonable adult who gets things done for everyday Americans. We have a choice between those who would govern for all of us by cooperating and compromising or a clown car that spits out those who put on faces to make us laugh and believe their craziness. 

 

We have choices. Make them wisely.

Thankful

 Thankful

 

Once again, we come to a holiday where we are asked to give thanks for those things we value. 

 

Here’s my list.

 

I am thankful for the glimmer of bipartisanship in the House of Representatives caused by Democrats and sensible Republicans who came together to pass bills to avoid another government shutdown. The new Speaker, a MAGA extremist, saw that his only way forward was to work across the aisle to pass the needed appropriations. It may end up costing him his job as speaker with the Freedom Caucus expresses its anger over what they perceive as his betrayal.

 

I am thankful that Democrats in Congress and the White House are the adults in the room in the halls of power. The Biden administration has racked up a series of impressive victories improving the economy through infrastructure spending, negotiating lower drug prices for seniors on Medicare, supporting reproductive healthcare, standing with striking auto workers to help secure a fair contract, standing up to protect democracy in Ukraine and working to rein in Israel’s excesses in Gaza while supporting its right to exist, working to build lasting alliances in the Pacific and South America, and a host of others.

 

I am thankful for Democrats in Washington County. We are the fourth largest county party in Wisconsin, quite an accomplishment in one of the state’s reddest areas. We weathered Covid and the reconstruction of Main Street, keeping our office open year-round downtown and banking enough to meet expenses for each year by the end of the previous one. We are looking forward to a spirited campaign year supporting candidates up and down the ticket. We stand for reproductive healthcare without restrictions and continue to advocate for sensible gun law reform. 

 

One of our latest projects is a benefit concert to end gun violence at The Bend on December 6^th, featuring local and regional musical groups which are donating their time and talents to support the cause. All the proceeds from tickets will be donated to activist groups working to end gun violence. You can get tickets at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/benefitconcertdec6

I hope to see you all there. 

 

I am thankful for my family. We are all mostly healthy and secure and visit when we can. We support each other and love unconditionally. While we are spread across several countries and continents, we keep in touch and enjoy each other’s company. I am grateful to have been married to my best friend for over 50 years. Our children and grandchildren are thriving and productive. My family history has helped put my own life in a greater context understanding now that my paternal grandfather paved the way for my own progressive activism.

 

I am thankful to live in a small community. It is a joy to enter local small businesses where they greet me by name. Keeping up with local politics and events in our area are easy and fun to observe. We look out for our neighbors, and they look out for us. 

I am thankful for my careers as a lawyer and as a guardian for those who can no longer make decisions for themselves. While both careers are over, the life lessons learned and the memories of people I have helped during my working years provide much comfort and satisfaction. Both endeavors took me into worlds I had not experienced and helped me expand my horizons. 

 

I am thankful for the opportunity to write this column every other week. I’ve been keeping tabs on local, state, and national politics here for 12 years and have never run out of things to write about. I appreciate the constructive criticism some of my readers express in letters to the editor and chuckle some when those who cannot find a way to address the issues descend into personal attacks and name calling. I appreciate the tips and leads readers send my way. 

 

All in all, I am thankful to be alive right here and right now. I hope you and yours can be as thankful.

 

Be Careful What You Wish For

 Be Careful What You Wish For

 

Hard right GOP folks worked for years to get a Supreme Court that would overrule Roe v. Wade and interpret the Second Amendment differently than it had been for a century. They finally got what they wanted only to discover that most Americans did not want either result. What they ended up with is a whole lot of angry voters ready to turn them out of office whenever the opportunity arises. 

 

Democrats have hitched their wagon to reproductive health care unencumbered by governmental interference and common-sense gun law reforms and are finding success at the polls despite low approval ratings for President Biden.

 

The elections in key states on Tuesday showed that voters, especially women voters, have had enough from the hard right. 

 

Ohio voters approved an amendment to their state constitution protecting reproductive healthcare, including contraception and abortion, in the face of determined GOP obstruction and misinformation. First, the GOP controlled legislature tried to make amending their constitution more difficult. The voters said no. Next, the legislature and GOP leaders waged a mean-spirited misinformation campaign spreading lies about what the proposed amendment meant. Finally, GOP operatives dropped 26,000 voters from the rolls to try to defeat the measure. The voters saw through it all and voted to pass it anyway. Former Senator Rick Santorum took to the airways on Wednesday claiming that this exercise in “pure democracy” should be prohibited. Not surprisingly, he no longer holds public office and just comments on Fox News. 

 

Voters in Virginia rejected calls from their GOP Governor, Glenn Youngkin, to give him GOP majorities in both houses of the legislature so he could pass a 15-week abortion ban. Instead, voters returned Democratic pro-abortion and pro-gun control majorities to both houses to make sure Youngkin’s agenda never sees the light of day and causing him to drop his planned run for President.

 

Voters in Pennsylvania elected a liberal judge to their Supreme Court. He ran on an openly pro-reproductive healthcare platform and soundly defeated his MAGA endorsed opponent. 

 

Everytown For Gun Safety notes that 162 members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America ran for office in this cycle and a majority won. 

 

Today’s GOP is sadly way out of step with American voters on these issues. Now that eight states have passed state constitutional amendments protecting reproductive healthcare, the handwriting is on the wall. Clinging to these issues will certainly hurt them next November.

 

To make matters worse for the GOP looking forward to the 2024 elections, voters are embracing other issues they don’t like and rejecting issues they put forward. 

 

Ohio voters also enacted marijuana legalization in Tuesday’s election despite GOP opposition and efforts to kill the measure. It is interesting to note that more people voted for marijuana legalization in Ohio on Tuesday than voted to support reproductive healthcare.  

 

The extreme hate group Moms for Liberty, often praised by the former president, saw school board election results reject banning books on LBGTQI and racism issues in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Virginia, and Minnesota. 

 

Voters in Virginia elected Danica Roem who is openly transgender to their state Senate. She is the first trans person elected to state office anywhere in the South. She was opposed by a former police detective supported by Gov. Youngkin who openly supports banning transgender athletes from competing on sports teams. 

 

Other states saw Democratic victories in local races as well. Democratic Socialists won several seats on city councils in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Voters in Philadelphia elected a Black woman as their next Mayor. 

 

All these electoral trends spell trouble for the GOP in the foreseeable future unless they find more popular issues and candidates who are willing and able to govern instead of just breaking things that work.

 

Getting what you wish for sometimes comes back to bite.

 

Where do they Stand?

 What Do They Stand For?

 

The GOP dumpster fire continues to burn like Canadian wildfires. 

 

Wisconsin’s GOP controlled legislature, thanks to heavily gerrymandered districts, recently passed several bills relating to transgender kids which would ban gender affirming medical care and create artificial barriers to trans kids playing sports in their new gender. The bills were passed after legislators heard from medical experts and members of the trans community just how misguided and harmful they were. They passed the bills knowing that similar laws have been struck down by federal courts as unconstitutional. They passed the bills knowing that Governor Evers promised to veto them. In the face of so much concerted opposition, the only apparent reason those bills were passed was to pander to those who still believe in harming others just because they can. 

 

The GOP controlled House of Representatives ousted their Speaker and rejected three potential candidates before finally electing a little-known hard liner, Mike Johnson, R-LA, on Wednesday, ending three weeks of legislative paralysis. Johnson supports the former president and worked to overturn the last presidential election. An Evangelical Christian, he opposes abortion, supports forced birth, and opposes same-sex marriage. 

 

Before settling on Johnson, the GOP members of the house were deeply divided, and it remains to be seen if he can unify the various factions of his membership to keep the government functioning and supporting efforts to support Israel and Ukraine. In choosing Johnson, the MAGA forces now are in complete control of the House. Part of the Speaker’s job is to negotiate with the leaders in the Senate and the White House. His extreme views will make those discussions very difficult indeed. 

 

The former president’s legal problems continue to mount. The criminal conspiracy case in Georgia should scare him the most. Three of his lawyers and one other co-defendant in the case have already flipped and become witnesses for the prosecution. Their reversals will prompt other defendants in the case to pursue their own deals with the prosecution in exchange for their testimony against those who remain. I expect that the former president and his main lawyer, Rudy Guliani, will be the last ones standing when they go on trial next year. 

 

The former president’s Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, has agreed to cooperate with the government against his former boss in the Federal election interference case in Washington, D.C. Meadows knows where all the bodies are buried and will prove to be a devastating witness for the prosecution.

 

The civil fraud trial in New York proceeds as witness upon witness paint a picture of the con and fraud that permeated the former president’s businesses in that state. Michael Cohen and Alan Weisselberg, both testified that they cooked the books to inflate the values of certain assets enabling their boss to obtain more favorable terms from banks. The former president has now been fined twice for violating the gag order imposed by the judge in that case to protect witnesses and court staff. 

 

In Colorado, another trial is set to begin next Monday to determine if the Secretary of State there can keep the former president off that state’s ballot next year. The issue there is whether he can be disqualified from running under Article Three of the 14^th Amendment because of his role in fomenting the insurrection at the nation’s capitol on January 6^th. Similar cases have been brought or are under consideration in several other states. Should Colorado keep him off the ballot, other states will surely follow. 

 

How the GOP plans to find a path to win the 2024 elections for Congress and the White House is a complete mystery. We are weary from the divisiveness and ineptitude of those in charge of the Republican Party. They have no policy grounded platform to help Americans grow and fix the problems we all face. Being against everything Democrats stand for tells us nothing about what they might try to accomplish if they prevail, except the destruction of the national safety net and the persecution of those they do not like.

 

It is long past time to send the MAGA folks home from the halls of our government.

 

Waring Fincke is a retired attorney and former guardian who lives in the Village of Kewaskum.