Republicans Want To Kill You

Let’s be blunt. Republicans hate it when people vote — especially the "wrong kind" of people.

Their loathing for democracy was most clearly stated by right-wing guru Paul Weyrich, who laid out the case for voter suppression back in 1980: “I don’t want everybody to vote. ... Our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Acting on his advice, Wisconsin Republicans, in thrall to their corporate overlords and campaign financiers, have done everything in their power to throw roadblocks in the path of voting: blatant gerrymandering to dilute opposing votes; restricting hours of voter registration; limiting the areas where volunteers can register voters or the times when DMV offices can take your picture; moving primary elections from September to August so college students can’t vote; closing or constantly changing polling locations (especially in minority areas), preferably to places without public transportation; and of course the notorious and completely unnecessary photo-ID requirement.

To Republicans the current COVID global pandemic was like manna from heaven. It could be lethally dangerous for strangers to cluster in groups of 10 or more, so they could let nature do their dirty work for them by scaring citizens away from the polls. But only if the election were held as originally scheduled.

That’s why, given a special session of the Legislature during which they could have postponed the election (as 15 other states have done) or adopted a sensible alternative like all-mail-in voting (as Gov. Evers proposed), they literally didn’t give a minute’s consideration to either. “Vote if you dare” was their attitude.

So if you’re a public-spirited citizen who wants to vote — or an elderly poll worker who’d like to help you do it — remember: Republicans don’t just want to stop you, they want to kill you if you try.

Mike McCabe, Democrat (?) for Governor

Mike McCabe, Democrat (?) for Governor
Suppose you’re a Democrat wrestling with which of eight candidates you’d like to support for governor, and you’re looking into this McCabe guy. “Why him?”, you might be wondering. “He spent his early career as a legislative aide to Republicans, has never been a dues-paying member of the Democratic Party, and refuses to take a loyalty oath to support the party’s eventual nominee.”

All true, and exactly why he deserves your support. Ask yourself this: “Do you consider yourself a citizen first or a Democrat first?”

Primary elections are dividers, not uniters. They drive the Democrats toward the bluest, most liberal contenders and the Republicans toward the reddest, most conservative ones. Whichever candidates emerge from this process will have the undying devotion of a fourth of the electorate, the unremitting hatred of another quarter, and massive indifference from the half that’s in the moderate middle. No wonder modern American politics leaves us so fractured and divided.

Mike McCabe is a realist. He knows that third-party candidacies are not only futile, they serve to further fractionate us. That’s why he’s running in one of the major parties, but not as a blind loyalist of it. It’s also why he’ll have broad appeal come the general election, and why he’d govern as a cost-conscious, trans-partisan uniter.

Mike’s #1 issue is getting big money out of politics, whether it’s liberal dollars from George Soros or conservative megabucks from the Koch Brothers. His appeal is to those of us in blue jeans.

In this, he’d follow in a noble Wisconsin tradition. Pat Lucey, a highly successful realtor with a healthy respect for the profit motive, ran and governed as a humane Democrat who promoted governmental efficiency. Lee Sherman Dreyfus, a college chancellor from the liberal world of academia, ran as a Republican and surrounded himself with top-quality advisors who weren’t partisan activists. Wisconsin’s longest-serving governor was Tommy Thompson, a self-described “hick from Elroy” who was able to work with urban Democrats on welfare reform, increased school funding, negotiated firmly but fairly with the state employees’ union, and brooked no nonsense from the extremist factions in his own Republican Party.

We need another governor like this today. Fortunately, one’s available. His name is Mike McCabe.


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The question will arise, and arise in your day, ... which shall rule — wealth or men? Which shall lead — money or intellect? Who shall fill public stations — educated and patriotic free men, or the feudal serfs of corporate capital?

— Edward Ryan, Chief Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court, addressing the UW graduating class of 1873