The Great Replacement

The Great Replacement Myth

No excuse for violence

Not content with promoting bans on the teaching of critical race theory to students who are not ever taught about it, the white supremacists among us are now floating the latest conspiracy theory, The Great Replacement. 

Meant to stoke white peoples’ fears of people of color, TGR claims, without any empirical support, that immigration policies which allow people of color to enter the country are designed to replace whites with those immigrants thus bringing about the end of the white race. 

The replacement theory, first advanced in Europe to try and stem the tide of African immigrants, has been brought here and promoted by some fringe GOP politicians and their mouthpieces on Fox News. It has become a guiding light for white supremacists here and used by those who use violence against people with different skin color to justify their actions. 

Guess what folks, white people are not being replaced because of the color of their skin. Some are being replaced by people of all different skin tones who believe that people are just that, people. As we intermingle with people from other places, interracial marriages and births have taken place and will continue to blend us all into what we have always been, just human beings. 

The notion that any one group of humans is superior to all others, especially one based on skin color, is just plain wrong. We are all the same inside. Some are better educated, more empathetic, more open to new ideas, and more willing to work to better the human condition than others, but that does not make them superior, just better people. 

We need to stop thinking in terms of race or skin color. These are artificial constructs designed to divide us from one another. We all inhabit the same planet. We need to come together to keep it habitable and safe for all of us, not just some of us. The outliers who continue to think only about themselves cannot prevail in the quest to make the world a better place. 

Surely, we are a planet divided by geography and political systems. People in different areas of the globe have approached how to govern in vastly different ways. Those differences are transitory. Witness the fall of the Soviet Union as a recent example. Governments with different rules can work together to achieve common goals. Witness the United Nations. These transitory systems do not define us or make one group superior to others. We all are just human beings trying to survive and take care of each other. 

Our political system is divided as well. The current divisions are stoked by these conspiracy theories which demonize others who think and look differently. That needs to stop. Our grand experiment in democracy will not survive if the conspiracies are allowed to fester unchallenged. 

The ongoing gun violence in this country is but a manifestation of those divisions and the permission the conspiracies provide to use violence to fix our problems. How long can our society survive if anyone is allowed to walk into a school and open fire, killing children and their teachers? 

At least our political system provides a path towards a solution to the problem of gun violence. We can elect legislative representatives who will enact laws regulating firearms to effectively keep them out of the hands of those prone to violence against others. We can elect legislative representatives who will pass laws providing mental health treatment programs with adequate funding to help those suffering from the delusion that others are out to replace them. We can elect legislative representatives who will honor educators and the work they do by passing laws making schools safer places with adequate resources to perform the sacred duties entrusted to them. We can elect legislative representatives who will pass laws enabling effective enforcement of these laws. 

With the epidemic of gun violence supported by conspiracy theories abroad in the land, we can choose to do something about the problem or choose to do nothing and watch the cycle repeat as it has far too often. 

It is up to us. 

A Rising Tide

 A Rising Tide

 

The leaked draft of Justice Alioto’s majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in a case out of Mississippi created a firestorm that will carry through the mid-term elections, those in the Fall and beyond. While the draft may not look the same in the Court’s final opinion, it is unlikely that any of the votes to overturn Roe will change, the testimony in recent Senate confirmation hearings notwithstanding. 

 

Over 70 percent of Americans consistently poll in favor of maintaining Roe as the law of the land. That support will manifest in the upcoming electoral cycles turning out anti-abortion legislators in state and federal elections as women and their male allies organize to support pro-choice replacements. 

 

If Roe is overturned, abortion will become the defining issue in the political divide that has engulfed America for several decades and should relegate the MAGA and anti-abortion movements to the fringes of American political discourse where they truly belong. 

 

Our daughter lives in Canada. Abortion there is considered a health service provided just like all other health services. The Canadian government believes it has no business telling medical providers which procedures they should provide to their patients and the government funded healthcare service treats abortion accordingly, leaving the decision to use it to women and their doctors. The procedure is less politicized as a result. 

 

Here in the United States, the majority will has been hijacked by a religious minority bent upon forcing their beliefs upon the entire populace whether they share those religious beliefs or not. 

 

I know women who have chosen to end their pregnancies by having an abortion. All are thoughtful, caring, and compassionate and made a difficult decision to end those pregnancies. None did it blithely or just because they could. None regret having made the choice. I respect them all for having made their choices and cannot consider taking away their ability to make those deeply personal decisions. 

 

I also know women opposed to abortion who would never choose to have the procedure. I respect them and their right to have that belief and make that choice. 

 

Where I draw the line is forcing either group to embrace the beliefs of the other. 

 

 Making abortion illegal will never end use of the procedure. Women will always find ways to end unwanted pregnancies. What overturning Roe will accomplish is the end of safe abortions in those states which make the procedure illegal. It will force many to take unwanted pregnancies to term and leave them with children they cannot support, and our laisse-faire support system will leave them to suffer with inadequate health care and food insecurity. 

 

Many have decried the unprecedented leak of Justice Alioto’s draft as the real problem. Such leaks are unprecedented and wrong but should not be used to deflect the discussion from the content of the draft. 

 

Better legal scholars than I have already plumbed the logic and support Alioto used to reach his conclusions justifying reversal of Roe v. Wade. They have pointed out two very troubling concerns raised by Alioto’s draft. 

 

The first is Alioto’s reliance on pronouncements by Sir Matthew Hale, a seventeenth century English barrister. In today’s world Hale would be labeled a classic misogynist. He espoused the biblical views common at the time that women were born from Adam’s rib and therefore his property. Hale would reduce women’s reproductive freedom to those of present-day livestock whose keepers regulate with complete impunity. Hale’s view relegates women back to being barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen, like it or not. 

 

The second concern arises from Alioto’s analysis requiring constitutional rights to be firmly rooted in its original construct to pass muster. That analysis, when carried over to modern decisions, puts things like using contraceptives, same sex, and interracial marriages, LBGQTI rights, laws banning racial and gender discrimination and women’s right to vote in serious jeopardy. While Alioto tried to limit his analysis to just abortions, he understands that his analysis used to justify banning them can easily be used to justify other bans on things a majority of the justices believe are wrong. Legal precedents cannot be easily constrained.

 

Women and their allies across the country are already mobilizing, organizing, marching, and protesting the inevitability of Roe’s demise given the present makeup of the Court. The resulting movement will rekindle the one started by the women who are their mothers and grandmothers to create an America where women have equal rights to their male counterparts. 

 

Modern women who have experienced equal pay for equal work, the right to vote and work just like men, the freedom to have complete reproductive healthcare, the ability to sit in seats of political and economic power, the right to freely express their sexuality, and to enjoy free speech of their own opinions unconstrained by husbands or fathers will not go back to Hale’s views of their roles. We are in for quite a ride. 

A Sinking ship

Stuck on a Sinking Ship

Too many Wisconsin Republicans still feel the need to kiss the ring of the former president in order to see a path to electoral victory.

All of the GOP candidates for governor have made the public pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago, except Kevin Nicholson, so they can say they went. Some have embraced the “Big Lie” that the former occupant of the White House really won the 2020 election and none of the rest have publicly renounced the claim, except Nicholson, who agrees that President Biden won the election.

Further down the food chain, our GOP Assembly Speaker, Robin Vos, continues to bend to pressure from Florida. After Vos appeared to put the Gableman fiasco behind him, the King of Mar-a-Lago threatened to find Vos a primary challenger if he did not continue Gableman’s “investigation” into the 2020 presidential election. Vos did an about-face and announced that Gableman could continue his work to enforce subpoenas for documents and depositions currently tied up in litigation while taking an unspecified pay cut. Gableman’s work has drawn bipartisan criticism as a “witch hunt” that has yet to find and document any fraud in the last presidential election after spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars looking.

With national polling showing ever decreasing support for the “Big Lie” and those who perpetuate it, it is surprising that those in the GOP leadership still cling to it and seek the support of its main proponent.

Seeking support from Mar-a-Lago carries other risks. The continuing fallout from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, both through criminal convictions and congressional investigations, casts a pall over the legitimacy and patriotism of the former president and his supporters. As more information emerges about the roles of former administration officials and GOP members in the House of Representatives in fomenting the insurrection and failing to call off or condemn the violence at the Capitol, more and more Americans are coming to recognize just how close we came to losing our democracy. We just do not use martial law to stay in power after losing an election.

Alt-right support for Russia’s President Putin and his democracy-destroying invasion of Ukraine has been whipped up by the former president. His ties, financial and political, to Putin and his oligarchy put him squarely on the wrong side of history. Authoritarianism is not a path to victory in American elections. Support for war criminals does not gain traction in our electorate. Polling clearly shows that a vast majority of the American public support President Biden’s support for the Ukrainian democracy and people, both militarily and diplomatically, as Biden unites Europe against the Russian invasion.

After being thrown off of social media platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, the former president backed another platform, Truth Social. It is run by former legislator Devin Nunes and has struggled to gain much traction. Its stock took a 44% hit after Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter. Trump, having only posted once on the new platform, has not helped its cause.

The former president’s financial woes continue as the New York attorney general convinced a judge to hold him in contempt and fine him $10,000 per day for failing to produce documents for the state’s investigation into his business dealings there. We will see which hurts more, the payment of the fines or the disclosures that will be made if the documents are produced. It is already public knowledge that the businesses run by the family allegedly used two sets of figures, one inflated asset values to obtain loans and the other deflated those same values for tax purposes. You cannot have it both ways.

I cannot see why GOP politicians still think it important to have support or endorsements from such a loser. He has an ever-dwindling base of support which will wither away over time. His endorsement will be seen by more and more as the kiss of political death to be avoided at all costs.

Until the GOP finds a new course with a positive message and a bold leadership, the former president will still be able to command center stage. Fortunately, that stage will get smaller and smaller as we continue to restore our democracy.

Don Kriefall, Well Done

 Well Done Don Kriefall 

Michalak Must Go

Washington County Board Chair Donald Kriefall and I do not agree on a host of issues, policies, and laws, but his recent call for Supervisor Timothy Michalak to resign from the County Board was the correct and responsible thing to do. Michalak brought a concealed firearm to a County Board meeting in a secure area of the Justice Center where it dropped to the floor in violation of state law. He carried the concealed firearm while his concealed carry permit had expired. Those transgressions more than justify Kriefall’s call for Michalak’s resignation and plan to oust Michalak from the Board should he refuse. 

Kriefall posted his official statement on the County’s Facebook page and the comments posted clearly show just how divided our community has become. Many applauded Kriefall’s statement, echoing his recognition that no one is above the law and that Michalak’s actions have cast a shadow on the whole Board. On the other side some Second Amendment purists have taken the opportunity to suggest that Michalak had every right to carry his gun anywhere he wanted and even drop it because restrictions on where one can conceal, or even open, carry are all unconstitutional. The back and forth between the moderate and ultra conservatives that followed shows just how fractured they have become. 

Michalak should resign both from the County Board and as Mayor of the City of Hartford. He had a similar incident dropping his concealed gun in a City Council meeting there. Even though Michalak recently won re-election as Mayor, he did so with less than 50 percent of the vote due to the splitting of the rest of the votes among the several write-in candidates. Should Michalak refuse to resign, the Common Council should take the steps necessary to remove him from office. 

Elected officials must set a high standard as law abiding citizens if they expect the rest of us to follow the laws those officials swear to protect and defend when they take their oath of office. When an elected official violates the law or engages in dangerous behavior and refuses to acknowledge their violations, public trust is eroded and the official’s ability to govern vanishes. Apologies for these violations are just not sufficient. 

We can and will debate the meaning and reach of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, but in the end, the nine justices of the United States Supreme Court have the last word. As it stands now, the Court allows some restrictions on where, when, and how citizens can possess and use firearms. There are other restrictions on the type of firearms and ammunitions citizens can possess or own. We cannot have machine guns, fully automatic firing guns or military weapons like canons or rockets. States are allowed some leeway in enacting laws on concealed and open carrying of firearms. Wisconsin passed laws restricting where firearms will be allowed and requiring permits for concealed carry. Some may believe these restrictions violate the Second Amendment, but until the Supreme Court says they do, they must be followed. 

Unfortunately, in our polarized political environment there are too many who have come to believe that their views of what the Constitution requires allows them to do anything that comports with those views, even if specific laws and court rulings differ. The end result of this kind of thinking leads to societal chaos. We are a society based upon laws enacted by legislatures and enforced by law enforcement and courts. We cannot allow individuals to pick and choose to follow just those laws they like or to interpret the laws as they see fit. 

Let us hope that Supervisor and Mayor Michalak sees the error of his ways and does the correct thing by resigning his positions. If he does not, we need to urge the County Board and Hartford City Council to take all necessary steps to remove him from his offices and restore public confidence in our institutions of government. 

Just Obey the Good Laws

 Just Obey the Good Laws

The GOP law and order crowd does not get it. They are supposed to follow the law, not ignore the ones they do not like or might make them look foolish. 

Most recently, the former President of the United States was completely surrounded by advisors and lawyers telling him the requirements for his duties and obligations in that office. On January 6th, after the former president incited the crowd of supporters to storm the Capitol to stop the certification of the 2020 election he lost, he stopped using his official phones for over 7 hours while that insurrection took place. The official White House phone logs for January 6th turned up the seven plus hour gap. We learned from the investigation by the House Select Committee that the former president received and made many calls during that seven-hour period including to or from the House Minority Leader, GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy. John Bolton, one of his advisors, tells us that the former president spoke often of using “burner phones,” the same kind drug dealers and other criminals use to hide their calls. This is not like the short gap in former President Nixon’s recorded phone call during the Watergate scandal. It is much more serious and shows a complete disregard for what the law requires of a sitting president. 

Closer to home, GOP Wisconsin Assembly Leader, Robin Vos, was just held in contempt of court by a Dane County judge for failing to turn over documents relating to former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gabelman’s “investigation” into the 2020 election which, by law, Vos was supposed to maintain and produce under our open records laws. In related proceedings, Vos claims that he has “lost” or “deleted” other records and emails he is required to maintain and produce on demand. Vos too is surrounded by advisors and lawyers who presumably have told him what his legal obligations are under our open records laws. This is not merely an administrative oversight. It is clearly an attempt to avoid disclosing information that will make him and Gableman’s efforts look bad, if not outright illegal. 

Locally, a county board supervisor who is also the mayor of a city in the county carrying a concealed firearm and dropping it in meetings where it is illegal to have a concealed weapon, all while his concealed carry permit had expired. His excuse is that he thought he was exempt from the requirements as a public official. What about basic “keep you weapon safe” rules learned in concealed carry permit classes or hunter safety courses?

We expect much more from our elected officials. Those charged with passing and enforcing the duly passed laws have a duty not only to make sure they know what those laws are as applied to them and their offices, but to follow them to the letter. Anything less sets a terrible example to others and emboldens disregard for those laws they do not like or do not want to follow. 

Our republic is one of laws which all are required to follow. Being elected to office does not give anyone carte blanche to pick and choose which of those laws they will follow and which they can ignore. 

I remember vividly a political candidate in Madison in the 1970s who was running for District Attorney on a platform of “just obey the good laws.” He meant it as a joke as he protested draconian laws enacted as part of the marijuana prohibition and most of us took it that way. Unfortunately, that message has continued tacitly to the present day in the GOP.

Public service in an elected office should carry a more serious approach to following the law. Once elected, officials should work to change those laws they feel are unjust or just plain wrong and not just ignore their commands. If those efforts at change are unsuccessful, then the official needs to obey, not ignore. 

Spring Elections

 Spring Elections Matter

Do your homework

 

Our Spring Elections are April 5^th. They are for supposedly non-partisan races like judicial, county, municipal and school board officials. Unfortunately, even these local positions have become politicized in our polarized political climate. 

 

Groups of moderate conservatives have stepped up to serve on local school boards in recent years, beating back the more vocal and radical elements in our communities more concerned about the culture wars than actually educating children. Battles over non-existent issues like Critical Race Theory, Social Emotional Learning and curriculum battles over gender identity make for interesting campaign slogans but ignore the real issues facing public education such as adequate funding, needs of special needs kids, respect for educators and inclusivity. 

 

Nowhere is this more evident than here in Kewaskum where gubernatorial wannabe, state Representative Timothy Ramthun and his hand-picked protégé, Bradley Peterson, are running to keep seats on the local school board.

 

Ramthun has distinguished himself by jumping into the GOP primary for governor on a platform of the impossible, decertifying the 2020 Wisconsin presidential election and switching our votes in the Electoral College to the former president. Upset with the rejection of his plan by the Assembly GOP Speaker Robin Voss and being thrown out of a meeting by Voss, Ramthun took to YouTube wishing he had punched Voss in the nose and told him to “pound sand. At the same time, he runs for a seat on our school board raising the clearly crazy notion that special education may be a plot to force students into special needs classes to gain more funding and to perhaps control students and parents. One must wonder if he is truly suited to serve on a school board, much less become Wisconsin’s next governor. 

 

Peterson has been noticeably silent on all of this, apparently content to ride Ramthun’s coattails with the alt-right conservatives in our community who buy into Ramthun’s conspiracy theories. 

 

In stark contrast, stands Rhett Engleking who is making his first run for public office. Rhett is the son of educator parents and his father, Ray Engleking, served on the Kewaskum School Board with distinction. Rhett promotes a positive view of our schools and the impact they have on our community’s children. He believes in collaboration with all those involved in educating kids who want to achieve the best outcomes. He is reaching out to people in the school district in person and by phone willing to listen to concerns about our schools. He is not afraid to engage people with opposing views. Have a look at his Facebook group for more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1104147717042837/

 

In West Bend and other Washington County communities, moderates who have been managing public education effectively continue to be primaried by extreme conservatives seeking to impose radical views on students and give voice to parents concerned that ultra conservative values are not being taught at school. 

 

Paul Fischer and Erin Dove are running for re-election to the West Bend School Board. Both are smart and involved in their community and have learned the complexities of school finance and budgeting. They have no personal axes to grind and seek to serve those in our schools. They have served well and deserve re-election. 

 

Melanie Ehrgott is running for the West Bend School Board as a staunch conservative opposed to having public schools deal with the emotional needs and social actions of students, believing that is best left to parents. Her position paper on the district website uses the hackneyed buzzwords signaling she stands with those who would dismantle public education by reverting to a Three Rs curriculum. Her social media pages echo the usual anti-CRT and “traditional family values” themes often used in these elections. Her Facebook page tells the story. https://www.facebook.com/MelanieEhrgott4WBSB?ref=py_c&_rdr

 

John Donaldson has been less vocal than Ehrgott, but his social media postings are just as telling. He too is running as a staunch conservative echoing themes rejected when Randy Marquardt and Dave Weigand were booted from the School Board years ago. For more see, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077428396313

 

Neither Ehrgott or Donaldson appear to offer anything positive to advance public education in West Bend and make it a better learning environment for students. They want to move public education back to a simpler time that no longer exists. 

 

We need to take a serious look at our local elections and choose people willing and able to serve all the people in our communities, not just those with the same political or religious views. Modern society is complex and diverse, and the old ways no longer work to meet the competing demands presented. 

 

In our information age, it is easy to find out what people running for office think and believe. We just need to do the homework. 

 

Moving Forward

 Moving Forward is Better than Going Back

 

President Biden’s State of the Union Address to members of Congress and the American people showed us and the world that he is a leader with vision and steadfast resolve to stand up for freedom and democracy here and abroad. He looks forward with a positive agenda for America and freedom loving people everywhere. In stark contrast stand those in Congress and here in Wisconsin who look backward, wish for things long past that are legally impossible. 

 

The President’s address started with a strong admonition to Russian President Putin and his oligarch supporters that the invasion of Ukraine will continue to be met with a unified and strong response from the United States and our European allies. He pointed out that Putin badly miscalculated the resistance of the Ukrainian people, their leaders, and the unified responses from most of the rest of the free world. Putin clearly did not expect large numbers of Russians would take to the streets of their cities to protest the war. He did not foresee members of his military would abandon their units and lay down their arms once they realized what they were being sent to accomplish. His billionaire cronies have seen their fortunes evaporate as economic sanctions are imposed by Russia’s former trading partners around the globe. The value of his currency and his ability to use the international banking system has been seriously compromised. Even Microsoft and Elon Musk joined the fray by helping combat Russian cyberwarfare and restoring internet access though Musk’s Skylink satellites. 

 

Even with the partisan divide in Congress, members from both sides of the aisle rose to applaud these efforts and show support for Ukrainian freedom. 

 

Biden then turned to issues closer to home, promising to deal with rising prices and concerns about energy. He noted progress made on supply chain concerns and investing in products made here rather than abroad. He announced releases from strategic oil reserves here and abroad to combat rising fuel costs. He asked Congress to pass his stalled measures to provide childcare and elder care services and drug price reductions. He addressed concerns about immigration and put aside notions to defund police departments seeking support for law enforcement while requiring accountability. Biden also pushed Congress to pass voting rights legislation stalled for far too long. He noted the progress made in combatting Corona virus and announced new testing and anti-viral treatment programs coming to local pharmacies. 

 

President Biden closed to bipartisan applause noting that the State of the Union is strong because the American People are strong. All in all, Biden’s speech should put an end to the “sleepy Joe” theme oft repeated by GOP politicians, especially our own Senator Ron Johnson.

 

The only dark moments in the President’s address were outbursts by two fringe alt-right members of the House who tried to speak over his remarks only to be booed quiet by other members. 

 

Here in Wisconsin, the backward-looking GOP continues to promote the “Big Lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by giving former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman a podium to peddle his mistaken belief that the Wisconsin Legislature can and should recall the 10 electoral votes Wisconsin electors cast for Biden after the 2020 election. 

Gableman delivered is long anticipated report on his partisan investigation of the alleged irregularities in the last election to an Assembly committee on Tuesday. Not only did he urge legislators to recall the Biden electors, but he also recommended that the Wisconsin Election Commission created by the GOP be disbanded in favor of partisan legislative control of future elections, elimination of ballot drop boxes, and further restrictions on absentee voting, especially in nursing homes.

 

Gableman’s “findings” have been soundly rejected in the many legal actions brought after President Biden carried Wisconsin by over 20,000 votes. Non-partisan legal experts and the legislature’s own legal counsel have concluded there is no legal mechanism to recall the state’s electoral college votes. Lawsuits brought by GOP allies challenging election results have all been rejected by the courts. The bi-partisan Wisconsin Election Commission has time and time again concluded that the last election was free and fair. Without a shred of new evidence to support his claims, it is unlikely that any of Gableman’s proposals will ever see the inside of a piece of legislation, even in our GOP controlled legislature. 

 

The only solace Gableman’s report provides is found in the remarks of our alt-right fringe politician, Assemblyman Timothy Ramthun from Campbellsport. Ramthun praised Gableman’s report and once more called upon his colleagues to pass legislation to “recall” the state’s electoral college votes. Ramthun also used the report to bolster his campaign for governor claiming to be the one candidate to support recalling the electoral votes. 

 

Eerily quiet about Gableman’s report and Ramthun’s claims are the other GOP gubernatorial candidates, Rebecca Kleefisch and Kevin Nicholson. They are in a stuck place, not wanting to alienate the GOP’s fringe base that still believes the former occupant of the White House is still president.

 

Looming large behind this craziness is the former president who continues to spout his “Big Lie” whenever he can find a live mic. He still commands control of the GOP’s national apparatus and GOP hopefuls still need to drink his Kool-Aid to gain his blessing and support. 

 

We have a clear choice between looking and moving forward or trying to go back to a Never Never Land that does not exist and never will.