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‘It Smells Like a Rat’: The Nasty Feud That Could Flip Wisconsin (www.politico.com)

submitted 1 month ago by FlashMobOfOne to c/politics

34 comments fedilink hide all child comments

MADISON, Wisconsin — On an oppressively hot August day in downtown Madison, the signs of this famously liberal city’s progressive activism are everywhere. Buildings are draped in pride flags and Black Lives Matter signs are prominently displayed on storefronts. A musty bookstore advertises revolutionary titles and newspaper clippings of rallies against Donald Trump. A fancy restaurant features a graphic of a raised Black fist in its window, with chalk outside on the sidewalk reading “solidarity forever.”

Yet the Green Party, which bills itself as an independent political party that has the best interests of self-described leftists at heart, is nowhere to be found. It has no storefronts, no candidates running for local office, no relationship with the politically active UW-Madison campus, which has almost 50,000 students.

Where it does have purchase is in the nightmares of local Democrats, who are deeply afraid of the effect the third party might have here in November. As one of the seven presidential battleground states, Wisconsin is a critical brick in the so-called Blue Wall, the term for the run of Rust Belt states that are essential to Kamala Harris’ chances of winning the presidency. It’s a deeply divided state that’s become notorious for its razor-thin margins of victory — a place where statewide elections are so close that even tenths of a percentage point matter. Against that backdrop, the Green Party looms very large this year.

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[–] FlashMobOfOne 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (33 children)

The election hasn't even happened yet and they're already blaming us for for a Harris loss. Naturally, though, they (Democrats) aren't doing any introspection on their own record.

They've spent the last year arming a genocide that is killing children en masse, actively targeting civilians, and now making war against other countries and, as of today, attacking Irish military resources in Lebanon. They've made hundreds of billions, which we don't have, appear out of thin air to produce more WMD's and resources for wars abroad, money people here need to feed themselves and their families.

They've sat on their hands while tens of millions are forced to work 2-3 jobs to survive, and even that only covers the bare minimum needed to live in most areas of the country. Most people can't even think of going to a doctor or obtaining higher education now, because both are cost-prohibitive.

They ran an evidently cognitively-impaired man for president and, when they couldn't stage manage him on national tv, that man's brain condition made itself painfully evident.

Instead of discussing their record (which they can't) and their plans (which people don't think they'll actually put into place), they've used their two months of campaign time to repeat memes: "Weird" and "Joy", but when you have to work 80 hours a week to live, memes ring hollow.

These and other reasons are why the Democrats are watching the polls even out now, and what will explain their loss if it happens, not Greens engaging in democracy.

TLDR: If you want progressive votes you cannot rule as conservatives.

[–] JuBe 12 points 1 month ago

They’ve sat on their hands while tens of millions are forced to work 2-3 jobs to survive, and even that only covers the bare minimum needed to live in most areas of the country. Most people can’t even think of going to a doctor or obtaining higher education now, because both are cost-prohibitive.

We both can look out on society and agree that the way things are can and should be better, but I find it funny that you’re ostensibly arguing for progressive policy reform using logic that parallels the logic used by proponents of school choice. Stay with me, and I’ll explain how.

I think we can both agree that in order for schools to function and be effective, they need some level of financial support to operate. It’s no secret that for decades, financial support for education has been slashed across the board.

Proponents of school choice typically argue that if public schools will not or cannot perform at satisfactory levels, the students should be able to go to another school, and some level of pro rata funding should follow them to that new school. This effectively punishes schools that have been long-underfunded with financial support, which plays a factor in that under-performing, and then takes away even more financial support.

Assuming you’re familiar with the procedural aspects of how governing works, you understand that to enact legislation and policies you’re in favor of takes a threshold level of support to accomplish that. Because of gerrymandering, antiquated frameworks for distribution representation, and the the Electoral College, Democrats have hardly been in a position to enact progressive legislation that isn’t obstructed by a president, one of the legislative chambers — or even once it is passed, that isn’t overturned by a Supreme Court detached from precedent and reason.

In both cases, the support necessary to operate a sufficiently resourced school, or to get a piece of legislation across the finish line, is clearly lacking. The solution to that problem is more support, not less. Schools need more financial support to reach their goals, and Democrats need more support in Congress to pass legislation. The position you’re defending right now is now is effectively expecting schools/Democrats to do more with less.

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