Hey You! Yes YOU!!! You with their chin hanging lower than Wile E. Coyote's after watching that bastard Road Runner escape his latest genius-borne trap. And you... the lady or gent who might well be thinking with stiffly contained tears of rage dancing on the edges of your eyelids that the turn of events in WI means that even when we give it our best... we STILL lose. AND YOU... the individual who is considering the recent events as an indication that our Neo-Progressive Movement is perhaps flawed, mortally wounded, or even dead in its tracks; LISTEN UP!
Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman want to take you on a journey of the logical mind and the open heart. A wee trip down memory lane to remind you all...from the bemused, but bitter to the desperately destroyed... that not only is all not lost, but also that the spirit and structure of the movement we call "Operation: Badger Justice" is as intact and as vital as it was 3 days hence!
Sp pull up a chair, call your therapist and tell her you'll be a bit late, and/or put down that bloody mary that contains just barely enough mix to add color and READ the words after the fold written by your friends Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic.
Let's first recognize that something is indeed (with apologies to the Bard) rotten in Denmark. "Denmark" in this case is not just Waukesha County, but the Capitol both here in Madison and elsewhere where private, 3rd party money is rotting our state democracies from the inside out while legislation so ugly it makes Mr. Fantastic look like Brad Pitt is being drafted, voted in and implemented. Secondly, let's not ignore where we are and what is going on. The following items are all TRUE, and sadly so at that.
Let's call 'em out and give 'em some space before we continue, shall we?:
1) The Kloppenburg/Prosser election results are in a serious state of doubt. As this has been covered nine ways to never (I love that phrase, don't you?), I won't plow dirt that has already been tilled, save to say that THE TRUTH WILL COME OUT. The universe is not constructed to uphold a reality based on lies. If the Clerk of Waukesha Cty has, through deliberate error, outright malfeasance or easily observed corruption...she will be exposed. Folks, think on it. This election is TOO IMPORTANT for Kloppenburg and her allies not to kick over every rock in search of the worms of truth hidden beneath. They are a competent bunch. We can and should relax, and let the work run its course (more on our role later).
Believe that. We do!
2) Private money is destroying our democracy. No matter where you stand on the politics of the the thing, the truth is that the forces in support of the left as well as the right are purchasing access to politicians at every layer of gov't that is as compelling as it is despicable. This access is granting undue influence to both the drafting of Legislation and the process of implementing it. Yes the forces on the right have more resources and moola than do the actors on the left, but BOTH sides are guilty.
3) Scott Walker and his ilk are STILL a collection of colossal, peerless and frighteningly ignorant douchebags. Yes it's true that they treat rules, processes and the very law itself with the sort of vapid indifference with which a fat, old cat gives to your attempts to engage it in frisky play. Sure, these clowns seem not only obsessed by "winning", but also in creating "losers" along the way; and if those "losers" are political enemies...so much the better. The point is...we KNOW these guys now. We can still do our part, and be efficient to defeat them.
They believe their time has come. They are right...but not in the manner they think!
Operation: Badger Justice is Alive and Well.
We are amid a time of great turmoil. A seemingly endless and immovable morass of defeat that escape from its voracious vortex of irredeemable blackness is as impossible a notion as sucking a piano through a straw, or Karl Rove apologizing to the world for just generally being an asshole.
DON'T You believe this for a second, Pilgrim.
While Rove's mea culpa isn't likely to be offered any time soon, I insist that change is all around us in every moment, AND we are amid a time of great social change. However, as we are IN it, witnessing the change is difficult. The perception gap is also exacerbated by the constant speed of media and culture. For example, constant reader, look how long it took for the disaster in Japan to recede from our collective public eye, despite the fact that things over there are (on balance) no better, if not WORSE. The Royal Wedding, Libya, Boener's latest weep-fest, and/or Lindsey Lohan's latest brush with the law/court/overdose all have supplanted the biggest global issue/emergency in evidence right now. No, daily life and the speed at which the public's attention moves has blinded us from the facts that we are amid a great social movement leading to CHANGE.
If we recall our college courses and our own internal musings correctly, there are five (easy?) stages of a given social movement. Now, dear reader, we fully and totally acknowledge that 5-step schematics of this sort are problematic in that they can generalize away many details and intrinsic complications; however, we simply are offering it as a contextual aid in assessing what "Operation: Badger Justice" has already accomplished and what’ we should be doing to get to the "self-evident" part!
I. Public education: Folks become aware and educated about the issue at hand and make it part of their lives...often with a DEFINING MOMENT. Hundreds of thousands of people rise up and protest at the Madison Capitol, and around the country, pizza is sent from around the world to support the protest,the Wisconsin 14 go on the lam and take media coverage with them...a defining moment if ever there was one!
II. Public Policy Arguments/Initiatives Appear: Political parties/allies, colleges, churches, businesses, and other cultural institutions/ideas that really form the basis of our society appear sympathetic to the given issue. Boycotts of Koch Brother businesses are in effect, unions are gaining membership and spreading the word, elections are being held, churches have weighed in on the morality of the Walkoch agenda as have the even MORE holy and revered Green Bay Packers!I am sure YOU, constant reader can add others!
III. Legislation: Laws are passed that reflect the will of the discussion and outcomes resulting from the prior point. This is where the rubber meet-a da road, kiddies. The may have money and the media (to a degree), but we have each other and we also have those with as much if not more to lose than we do on our side! The public supports us EVERYWHERE throughout the state and the nation. Just look at the polling. A majority of people believe that the RICH/CORPORATIONS should pay more, not the middle class. Say what you want, but the numbers weren't this good BEFORE "Operation: Badger Justice" started! What are some other supports? Help me out here! Maybe Mr. Fantastic will himself run for office?
IV. Litigation: The laws that were passed are now implemented, enforced and possibly interpreted as society/culture integrates the change.
Campaign Finance Reform Round 2 anyone? Perhaps the advisory referenda that OVERWHELMINGLY passed in Madison and Dane Cty., could become part of this mix, right?
V. Public acceptance: Finally, the idea/issue/change is fully a part of by the majority of society at large! We will live to see the day folks.... stay engaged and positive!!!
More simply put, the five stages are boiled down by one of my favorites quotes of all time by German Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer:
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
So there you have it folks. It's OK to be mad today. Further it is expected and encouraged by both Mr. F and Invisible W that the answers regarding the Waukesha "irregularities" be determined and whatever mitigation techniques and /or punitive sanctions be swiftly applied.
BUT we as Progressives cannot allow this situation destroy us. Moreover, should we lose this one (I pray not!) we ABSOLUTELY cannot fall into despair and forget our past and current wins and successes! We have accomplished much including educating the public, preserving our dignity and way of life, re-igniting the Badger spirit, and setting in motion a MOVEMENT born of Protest.
Don't give up folks! Love and Light,
MF/IW