This week's newsletter is full of ideas about WHAT YOU CAN DO to win the midterm elections in Wisconsin, starting with attending our Save Our State campaign kick-off rally.

If you have not yet signed up for our Save Our State rally at Doctors Park (1870 East Fox Lane, Fox Point) on Sunday, September 18, from 3:30-5:30pm, you need to take care of this task immediately! Although Governor Evers can't attend in person, he's sent us a video greeting. Our Attorney General Josh Kaul will be there as well as our current Lieutenant Governor and stellar candidate for US Senate, Mandela Barnes. And we will also get a chance to meet and hear from the Assembly District candidates in our area: Deb Andraca (AD 23), Dan Larsen (AD 60), Darrin Madison (AD 10), and Bob Tatterson (AD 24). Here's a map to help get you there:
The event is fully outdoors and the weather promises to be fine! We'd love to see you.

One note about the Save Our State event. Usually, we hold a picnic each fall and ask for donations to the organization. We are, after all, an entirely volunteer grassroots group, but we do have some expenses (like paying for the website and the newsletter!). This year the venue does not permit us to solicit donations at the park. So I'm asking you to give through our website or by writing a check made out to Grassroots North Shore with "Save Our State" on the memo line. You can mail your check to Grassroots North Shore, 5600 W Brown Deer Road, Suite 116, Brown Deer, WI 53223.

A new Marquette University Law School poll will be released on Wednesday, September 14, at 12:15. It's an in-person event. So if you just want to read the information for yourself, a news release and poll data will be on the website shortly after 1:15pm. It will also be livestreamed on the website. The poll surveys races for various statewide offices as well as a range of important topics, including the direction of the state, public schools, reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, student loan forgiveness, abortion policy, confidence in the 2020 election, inflation, taxes, gun violence, illegal immigration, crime, climate change, and ensuring votes are accurately counted.

There are plenty of other ways you can participate in democratic elections in both partisan and nonpartisan activities.

Join a team and talk to your neighbors from now until election day. You will find the information you need for each of the following Neighborhood Action Teams. Research has shown that talking to people is the surest way to turn out the vote!

• Glendale Neighborhood Action Team
• Whitefish Bay Neighborhood Action Team
• Shorewood Neighborhood Action Team: Coming soon.
• Bayside, Brown Deer, Fox Point Neighborhood Action Team
• Ozaukee County Dems

• The League of Women Voters is recruiting Election Observers across the state to observe the November Election on November 8, 2022. Volunteers will help ensure we have a fair election by watching for signs of voter disenfranchisement and intimidation, and by monitoring the way Wisconsin's election laws and procedures are being applied. Even if you only have a couple hours to spare on Election Day, you can still sign up to be an election observer. Being an election observer is a vital way you can help maintain a strong democracy in our state. Learn more and sign up to volunteer today!
  
  
• Common Cause, a non-partisan organization, is also engaging in a voter protection effort.
  
  
• Team up with the Wisconsin Democratic Party's Election Protection Project.

This week, the Events List is filling out, but before you get to that, a little reminder about what our current senior US Senator is saying and doing!

Now really is the time to get to work. The first absentee ballots will be mailed from municipal clerks' offices on September 22. The deadline for online registration is October 19. Early in-person voting begins on October 25. And of course election day is November 8. I don't need to tell you how critical — even existential — this one is. So, please, find SOMETHING you can do to help beat back the MAGA Republicans in this state. And get busy!

Good news: disabled voters CAN GET HELP returning their absentee ballots. On August 31, U.S. District Judge Fames D. Peterson ruled that the Voting Rights Act takes precedence over the Wisconsin State Supreme Court's decision in July that outlawed absentee ballot drop boxes and ruled voters must return their own absentee ballot in person to a clerk's office or other designated site. To those with disabilities, returning an absentee ballot in person or even getting it to a mailbox would present a huge, and in some cases an insurmountable, obstacle to casting a vote. Peterson wrote that "Voters shouldn't have to choose between exercising their federal rights and complying with state law." Unfortunately, Wisconsin law still requires that voters put their own ballots in mailboxes and Peterson's ruling did not address the issue. But it's awfully difficult to determine whether every voter put his/her/their own ballot in the mail!

Yesterday, President Biden — accompanied by the national and Wisconsin heads of the AFL-CIO, the Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, and Governor Evers among others — came to Milwaukee's Laborfest and gave a rousing pro-labor and anti-trumpist speech. He gave Ron Johnson the treatment when he called Senators Johnson and Rick Scott out over their promises to make Social Security funding subject to annual or five year funding votes in Congress. (Middle Wisconsin has a good piece discussing the horrors of such a plan.) You can watch Walsh's intro and Biden's full speech. (Daily Kos has a synopsis.) It was strong and passionate. Our own taste of the "dark Brandon" visible in his speech last Thursday at Independence hall.

For Veterans among us: The Tony Evers campaign is looking to get a group of Veterans together to sit on an advisory council. The Veterans would have the opportunity to share issues that they care about, attend a few Zoom meetings with the campaign team, attend a Veteran event (TBD) and help shape the campaign's messaging for Veterans. You will also need to be comfortable being publicly listed as "Veterans Support of Governor Tony Evers." If you are interested, email me and I will pass the information along to the campaign.

Plan to come to our campaign kick-off rally — Save Our State — Sunday, September 18, from 3:30 - 5:30 at Doctors Park (1870 E Fox Ln) in Fox Point. We'll have a message from Governor Evers. Both Mandela Barnes and Josh Kaul will be there. As will our candidates for Wisconsin Assembly: Deb Andraca, Darrin Madison, Dan Larsen and Bob Tatterson. RSVP so we'll know you're coming.

We only have 63 more days until the election! So have you signed up to volunteer for something yet? How about donating to Evers and Rodriguez, Kaul, Richardson, LaFollette, Barnes, Moore, Andraca, Larsen, Madison, Tatterson? If you don't know anything about these people or what office they seek, visit the Grassroots North Shore Elections 2022 pages. You will also find information about early in-person voting in your community. And here's a link to join in canvassing with the Glendale Neighborhood Action Team. I will have links to sign up for other teams by next week.

You still have time to request an absentee ballot. Clerks will begin mailing ballots on September 22. If you are voting by absentee ballot, make sure you mail it back by November 1 or deliver it to your clerk's office by November 4.

Another way you can participate is to write letters to the editor. The Democrats are providing a free virtual workshop on Tuesday, September 20, with examples, tips, and issue information sheets. The workshop will be led by Haley McCoy, said to be "WisDems on-call writing expert." She will be available for questions both during the workshop and for the rest of the campaign. The workshop will take place from 6:00 - 7:00pm. Register here.

Finally, here are two voter protection opportunities, either with the Democratice Party of Wisconsin or in with Common Cause, a non-partisan organization.

After Labor Day, Grassroots North Shore will begin its election activities in earnest, but before then there's been an interesting election development in North Carolina. The state's Supreme Court ruled on August 20 that the gerrymandered state legislature "lacked the power to amend the constitution." It seems that the process for amending the state constitution begins in the legislature, as it does here in Wisconsin. The legislature ordinarily has the power to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot for voter adoption. In this case, though, the court ruled that the electoral maps behind the currently elected legislators had been struck down in 2017 when federal courts found that they discriminated against Black voters. As a result, the legislators representing the illegal districts could not help form the supermajority necessary to pass constitutional amendments.

Further litigation will presumably resolve the issues but there's an important moral to the story. It seems that two seats on the NC court are also on the November ballot. If Republicans win even one of those seats, the ruling could be overturned. Judicial elections have huge, if largely unheralded, consequences. In Wisconsin, we're currently gearing up big-time for the November 8 election. But close on its heels, we too will have a consequential election for a Supreme Court seat in April 2023. It will be a big one, folks! Our form of government — whether you think of it as a democracy or a republic — takes eternal vigilance and lots of hard, grassroots work. Grassroots North Shore is already planning spring actions. So get ready to work for fall AND spring elections.

If you have not yet seen it, the latest Marquette Law School Poll was published last Wednesday. The news is moderately positive for Democrats running statewide in this election: Governor Evers tops Tim Michels by a few percentage points and Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes tops Johnson by 7 points. (A Fox News poll shows Mandela up by only 4 points.) But we cannot relax for a second! That's why you should join us in Doctors Park (1870 E Fox Ln, Fox Point) on Sunday, September 18, from 3:30 - 5:30pm for our Save our State rally!

In local news, in case you missed it, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos won his primary by fewer than 300 votes. So his challenger is mounting a write-in campaign. Vos has no Democratic opponent, however. So he's quite likely to win the election. If there were a three-way race, though, he might have had a tougher time, with the GOP vote split between Vos and Adam Steen. The situation highlights how important it is for Democrats to run candidates in every district, no matter how gerrymandered. That's why we owe Bob Tatterson, running in the 24th Assembly District, and Dan Larsen, running in the 60th Assembly District, our deep gratitude and as much assistance as we can give them.

And a little schadenfreude to end on: Just a few days after his close shave with defeat, Vos fired Michael Gableman and shut down the so-called "review" of the 2020 election in Wisconsin. Now he says Michael Gableman could lose his law license over 2020 election review, records violations. But Gableman has already found a new employer: The Thomas More Society, a conservative law firm that was involved in his fraudulent review.

Last call: the primary election is TOMORROW: Tuesday, August 9, from 7am to 8pm at your polling location. A strong turnout for the August election is a sure sign of a strong turnout in November. And it is up to you to make that happen. If you have not yet voted, tomorrow is your last chance. To see a sample of what's on your ballot and to check where your polling place is, visit MyVote.WI.gov. To bone up on the candidates for all the contested races on the ballot, visit our elections page.

And don't forget to vote in those uncontested primaries as well. Governor Evers, Attorney General Kaul, Deb Andraca (the Assembly Representative for AD 23), Bob Patterson (running in AD24), and Dan Larsen (running in AD 60) — all of them need your votes as well.

Besides your vote — which is, as you know, a vital right and your civic duty — I hope you will get active with one or more campaigns. Dan Larsen, a Cedarburg attorney, has stepped up to run against Robert Brooks, the incumbent Assembly Representative for AD 60. It's a tough territory for a Democrat but Brooks favors banning some contraception and allowing guns in schools. We need to nix his votes on these terrible ideas. So if you have some time and energy, volunteer with his campaign. Like all candidates, he needs people to knock on doors, call voters, and donate funds to help him with the costs of yard signs, tv and online ads, and the like. You'll be pleased to get acquainted with him through his website. Or work with another candidate. You'll find links to their websites and other online sites on our Elections 2022 pages.

Now the fall election begins in earnest. To kick things off, Governor Evers, Senator Baldwin, Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, and a host of other political luminaries will hold a Unity Rally on Wednesday, August 10, at 3:45 in the Deer District: 333 W. Juneau Ave, Milwaukee. Let's give Governor Evers a show of enthusiasm! SIGN UP.

Things are looking up for the general election on November 8. The Senate has now passed what Bill Gates has called a remarkable moment for congress and the country: — the Inflation Reduction Act. It includes truly fantastic investments in a clean energy future, the ability for Medicare to negotiate some drug prices, and much more. Not, of course, everything we wanted but a big breakthrough nevertheless. On the heels of several other major victories, this soon-to-be-enacted law is, as they say, a game-changer. Maybe for the November elections, but certainly for the future of the earth!

In other positive news, the Five Thirty Eight poll agregator currently shows Democrats slightly favored to win the Senate. And now that Republicans in several states have nominated weak candidates for important positions, like governors and US senators and secretaries of state, the odds are improving. In the race for Wisconsin governor, Five Thirty Eight shows Evers polling well. The site currently rates the election as "lean R" but just a few days ago it rated the race as "Lean D." In other words, a toss-up. So we definitely have work to do! According to Charlie Cooke of the Cooke Political Report, "One thing that has been noted by both Democratic and Republican pollsters is that given the circumstances, Republicans seem to be underperforming on the generic congressional ballot test." So if we can really ramp up the turnout among our base voters and Dem-leaning independents plus reach a modest percent of disaffected Republican voters, November 8 could be a good day for Wisconsin and the country! Let's get to work!!

The Events list is pretty sparse this week. So please connect up with a campaign you care about and volunteer. The Grassroots North Shore Election 2022 pages provide links to candidates' campaigns and will reflect the outcome of the primary as soon as firm results are known. We really need everyone to participate as fully as possible.

         Microchips are incorporated in nearly every good and service these days, as well as the processes by which they are made.  A short list includes major appliances;  heating and air conditioning systems;  electric, internal combustion, and hybrid vehicles; waste disposal; and of course cell phones and computers.  A shortage of chips during the pandemic led to a shortage of all of those products, as well as slowing the effort to renovate the electricity grid, an essential step in addressing climate change.   The shortages also led to higher prices for those products and processes, contributing to the supply-side part of the inflation now disrupting the United States.

         With bipartisan support, the "Chips and Science" bill is working its way to President Biden's desk after the Senate passed the bill on July 27 by a margin of 64 to 33.  Officially known as Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors or CHIPS, this bill will allocate $52 billion to chip manufacturing within the United States, and $200 billion to research in the ongoing improvement of chips plus education and training programs to increase the number of chip-manufacturing employees.

         The CHIPS bill is designed to foster discoveries made in the USA that contribute to the ongoing improvement in speed, accuracy, durability, and capacity of chips.   To stay on the "cutting edge," microchip manufacturing requires ongoing research by firms in the private sector, by university technicians and professors as well as scientists at national and private labs.   The aim is to assure that conceptual breakthroughs and their applications take place in the United States, including in the advanced manufacturing sector of the State of Wisconsin with its 187,000 employees.   

         Wisconsin Senator Johnson voted against CHIPS. He labeled CHIPS "corporate welfare," and "socialism."  He also declared that the bill would be "inflationary."  These charges reveal economic misunderstanding that is harmful to the nation and to Wisconsin.     

         The core concept behind CHIPS is that these improvements in the US semiconductor industry are a public responsibility.  The alternative is unregulated market activity, or "free markets." As previous essays in this Econ4Voters series have argued, that free-market default is superior only when the pre-conditions for market efficiency, including competition, are present; microchips are a textbook example of the opposite.   In the worldwide market, the manufacturing of chips gravitated toward countries like China, where their highly precise labor input can be hired for very low wages. This natural result of market activity left the US vulnerable to cut-offs, whether due to the pandemic or to military threats.

         Similarly, the notion that the CHIPS bill would be inflationary has it backwards. An increased supply of microchips reduces the cost of producing the modern goods and services that require microchips and the production processes that supply them. Both economic principles and empirical evidence show that productivity and cost are inversely related; increasing the supply and quality of microchips will fight inflation, not cause it.  Moreover, making the US economy more competitive globally will strengthen the dollar as an international currency which in turn would also fight inflation by making foreign goods cheaper.

         Johnson’s "socialism" charge reveals a particularly worrisome misunderstanding of economics. A capitalist system requires an efficient public sector to support the market system,  providing those things that the market system needs but will not produce for itself. Market activity requires streets, roads, sewer, water services, the legal system, police and fire protection, national defense, and a host of other public services. It is also a public responsibility to support specialized research that produces very uncertain investor return, as in the case of advanced semiconductors.  To conflate capitalism's public sector with socialism is a demonstration of incapacity to evaluate public policy.   It is not conservatism. It is confusion.

William L. Holahan is Emeritus Professor and former Chair of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

As you are probably aware by now, Tom Nelson, Alex Lasry, and Sarah Godlewski all dropped out of the race for the nomination for US Senate last week. All of them have endorsed Mandela Barnes. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin then endorsed Barnes too, in effect clearing the field for him ahead of the August 9 primary. Following suit, Grassroots North Shore has enthusiastically endorsed Mandela. But lest you think this development lets you off the hook, think again. There are a LOT of contested races on your ballot and those races need your considered vote. (See our election information pages to learn about all the candidates in these races.) Even uncontested races — like the one for Governor Evers and the one for Attorney General Josh Kaul — still need your love and attention. That goes double for Barnes where there are still four other candidates who have not dropped out. And indeed all eight names, including the three who have now stepped aside, will appear on your ballot!

If you have voted already, either by absentee ballot or early in-person, and have cast your ballot for one of the candidates who has now endorsed Barnes, you can rescind your earlier vote and submit a new ballot. Here's the NPR account of how to do it. "To void a ballot, voters need to contact their local clerk, either in person or by sending a message through the mail or email. Once the clerk's office receives the request and locates the returned ballot, their office writes 'spoiled' at the top and makes a small tear in the envelope to ensure the ballot is not counted. After the original ballot is spoiled, the office will issue a new absentee ballot. The deadline for spoiling an absentee ballot by mail is August 4 at 5 p.m. To spoil a ballot in person, the deadline is August 7."

In a reprise from last week's newsletter, here are some primary election reminders. Tuesday, August 9 is Election Day. But you can vote early all this week in your city/village clerk's office. In the 'burbs and Oz County, early voting runs through Friday, August 5. Our early in-person voting page will provide you with dates/times and contact information for North Shore and Ozaukee County clerks. For the city of Milwaukee, there are four early voting locations. Early voting hours run through Saturday, August 6. So, make a plan. And VOTE.

Speaking of the upcoming election, Milwaukee still needs election inspectors (aka poll workers). Go to the Election Inspector page of the Milwaukee Election Commission ASAP. And then sign up for the virtual training — the last one before the primary — on Saturday, August 6 at 9:30am. (You'll get the link for the training session after you apply.)

While you focus on election matters this week and next, take some time for some fun! The Ozaukee County Fair runs from August 3-7. Visit the Oz Dems at the Ozaukee County Fair. Have fun completing the Scavenger Hunt for the fair! Meet local and state politicians and find out more about our local DPOC group. The fair runs from 10am Wednesday, August 3, to 8pm on Sunday, August 7. The Wisconsin State Fair, at the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, runs from Thursday, August 4, through Sunday, August 14. Its hours of operation are Sunday – Wednesday: 10am – 10pm; Thursday – Saturday: 10am – midnight. Lots of fun, lots of good eats. And don't forget to stop by the Milwaukee County Democrats' booth and pick up some swag.

Coming attractions: The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors recently approved two resolutions for advisory referendums to appear on the November 8 ballots in the county. One would advise banning military-style weapons and the other would legalize marijuana for personal use while regulating the sales and also raising some revenue by taxing the sales. I've put the exact language on our website.

Over the past week, the news has been breaking at a furious pace, considering that we're in the middle of summer! Locally, we learned yesterday that Tom Nelson, County Executive of Outagamie County, has dropped out of the race for the Democratic Party's nomination for US Senate. His name, of course, remains on the ballot for the August primary. But if you were planning to vote for him, choose one of the other seven candidates!

The Marquette Law School June poll on races in Wisconsin finds close races in the Senate and Governor primaries and in the November elections. You can also watch a video of Charles Franklin discussing the results. For a different look at the US Senate race in Wisconsin, you can read "Race to the WH."

Marquette recently produced a poll that tries to measure the impact of the Supreme Court's abortion decision and another measuring approval of the Court. Those last two polls were taken in July using a national sample of voters, not just those in Wisconsin.

In case you missed the prime time hearing on Thursday, July 21, you can see highlights at the Washington Post. You can see the complete hearing on YouTube. There are a lot of riveting details in the whole thing. The outtakes from speech The Former Guy (TFG) gave on January 7 are clear indications of his mental state. But the most hilarious (or Hawley-rious) bit is watching Senator Hawley run from the "peaceful demonstrators" — Hawleyng ass, if you will.

Yesterday, Congresswoman Elaine Luria, a member of the January 6 Select Committee, released another video on Twitter showing revisions TFG made to his January 7 speech. The video seems to have been prepared for the July 21 hearing but was simply left out because of time constraints. The clip includes members of his inner circle and his family testifying to TFG's refusal to say that the election was over or that his StormTrumpers should be prosecuted for breaking the law. The clip runs a little more than 3.5 minutes. And it is damning.

In momentous news, Marc Short, former Vice President Pence's chief of staff, confirmed that he has testified in front of a federal grand jury investigating the January 6 insurrection. His testimony is, of course, shrouded in secrecy so we cannot know what he was asked or what he said. But pundits are speculating that it's a big development not least because it reveals that the Justice Department has moved beyond trying those who invaded the Capitol to investigating those who were members the White House's inner circle. According to the New York Times, Greg Jacob, Pence's top lawyer, was also subpoenaed and testified in the federal criminal inquiry. "The testimony of the two Pence aides marked the first time it has become publicly known that figures with firsthand knowledge of what took place inside the White House in the tumultuous days before the attack have cooperated with federal prosecutors."

Meanwhile, in Georgia, there was a strange development in the criminal case Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is pursuing. In what may turn out to be a relatively minor digression, the judge overseeing the special grand jury Willis is using ruled that she cannot investigate one of the fake electors because he is the GOP nominee for Lieutenant Governor and she hosted a fundraiser for a Democrat seeking to become the party's nominee for that position in a run-off primary. Apparently, State Senator Burt Jones will have to be investigated by another prosecutor. Here's the New York Times's account. DA Willis will still be able to probe Mr. Jones's role in the scheme to send a phony slate of electors to the Vice President and the National Archives by asking other fake electors and GOP officials about his actions.

Politico reports that "six weeks into the committee’s public hearing schedule, an emerging consensus is forming in Republican Party circles — including in Trump’s orbit — that a significant portion of the rank-and-file may be tiring of the non-stop series of revelations about Trump." And Jennifer Rubin, a former Republican and a current opinion author at the Washington Post, thinks that "more Republicans are dumping Trump. But the GOP still imperils democracy." She goes on to note that even if prominent Republican rags like the Murdoch-owned NY Post and the Wall Street Journal are dumping Trump, "it’s arguably more important for Republican politicians to be warriors for Christian nationalism and generators of racial grievance than Trump apologists." She concludes: "So while it’s true that some Republicans are moving on from Trump, his two legacies — authoritarianism and ethno-nationalism — still dominate the GOP. The threat to pluralistic democracy remains."

Finally, some primary election reminders. Tuesday, August 9 is election day. But you can begin voting TODAY in your city/village clerk's office. Early voting runs through Friday, August 5. Our early in-person voting page will provide you with dates/times and contact information for North Shore and Ozaukee County clerks. For the city of Milwaukee, there are four early voting locations and early voting hours on Saturday July 30, Sunday July 31, and Saturday, August 6. So, make a plan. And VOTE.

And one more thing: the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County is looking for volunteers to staff their booth at the State Fair. The Democratic Party of Ozaukee County is looking for volunteers to staff their booth at the Ozaukee County Fair. Voting is super important, but showing up for party duty (and fun) helps the cause too.

It's time to make sure you have a plan to vote in the August 9 primary. It's usually a low-turnout election but with so many important offices on the ballot, we can't afford to sit it out. When more people vote in a primary, the winning candidates represent a broader swathe of the voting public and are therefore likely to have greater appeal to general election voters. So do your part. BE A VOTER!

So that I can watch Tuesday morning's January 6 Committee hearing at 9am CDT, I am writing this intro to the Events list on Monday afternoon. (You can watch the hearings live at MSNBC, CBS, the New York Times website, the Washington Post website and probably a lot of other channels.) So the news won't be quite so up-to-date. But there have been some important developments since last week's newsletter, not least of which is the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that voters MAY NOT USE DROP BOXES to return absentee ballots. All absentee ballots can be returned to the village/city clerk's office during business hours OR ballots can be sent by US Mail. Disabled voters can have a spouse or a friend put their absentee ballots in a mailbox for them, but the spouse or friend cannot hand-deliver a disabled voter's ballot to the village/city clerk.

In essence the 114-page opinion and Justice Hagedorn's concurrent opinion simply stressed that the Wisconsin Elections Commission had exceeded its authority when it approved the use of drop boxes for ballots as one of many measures to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic. If you think this ruling is silly — after all, absolutely no voter fraud occurred with drop boxes in 2020 — you're clearly not a MAGA Republican. According to an article in Talking Points Memo today, Trump And Co. Seize On Wisconsin Ruling As PROOF 2020 Election Was Rigged. TFG was first in line to make the false claim. Read the piece for yourself so I don't have to quote his ridiculous words.

You can still request an absentee ballot at MyVote.WI.Gov but you need to take care of this matter ASAP. You'll want to put ballots in the mail no later than August 2 to ensure that they arrive before 8pm on Election Day. Early in-person voting takes place on weekdays from July 26 through August 5. Check our webpage for exact dates and times for your municipality.

In the spirit of the exhortation to organize instead of agonizing, let's all do more than moan! Grassroots North Shore has a number of activities taking place now to get out the vote for the August 9 primary. And a good turnout is tremendously important. The winner of a contested primary should appeal to the broadest group of voters, but only that's really only possible when we see a great turnout, as we did in elections in 2018 and again in 2020. Strong turnout translates to stronger candidates! Here are the actions you should sign up for this summer:

• Phoning the 3300 postcard recipients in Ozaukee County, undertaken from home and on your own time;
• Distributing literature to strong Democratic women in Bayside, Brown Deer, and Fox Point beginning on July 18 and running through July 31;
• Canvassing in Fox Point on July 16 & 23;
• Canvassing in Glendale on July 17;
• Canvassing in Shorewood on July 23 and 30.

We have yard signs for Governor Evers we'd like to place in visible and high-traffic areas. If that describes your location, here's how to get one. Send email to the person listed for your area to make arrangements to get a sign.

• Shorewood: Paul Geenen;
• Shorewood: Norma Gilson;
• Whitefish Bay: Shirley Horowitz;
• Glendale: Cheryl Maranto;
• Bayside, Brown Deer, Fox Point: Eilene Stevens;
• Ozaukee County: Kath Michel.

And a reminder that our website hosts a lot of candidate information and links so that you can be a well-informed voter in the primary. Many of the nominations are contested. Those for Governor and Attorney General are not. But the US Senate, Lieutenant Governor, State Treasurer, and Secretary of State are. The new Assembly District 10 now includes all of Glendale and Shorewood. So voters there will need to decide which candidate to back for an open seat. And Brown Deer is now (mostly) in Assembly District 23, ably represented by Deb Andraca, who is running unopposed on the Democratic side but who needs your votes now also. Farther north, Bob Patterson is taking on Dan Knodl in the 24th Assembly District and Dan Larsen is bravely taking on Robert Brooks in the 60th Assembly District. If you live in one of these districts, you should visit our page for Assembly races.

Let's end today's newsletter with a little hopeful sign for us lefties and normal folks: Candidate challenges, primary scars have GOP worried about Senate chances, exclaims the Washington Post. GOP "success in the fight for the evenly divided Senate and in gubernatorial races, where candidate quality and the unique political contours of each state tend to factor into the outcome, are less of a sure thing..." than the weak political environment for Democrats made it seem. So here in Wisconsin, be sure to vote for the strongest candidate we have to beat RoJo in November!

Aside from the continuing coverage of Cassidy Hutchinson's explosive testimony to the January 6 Select Committee  last week (highlights), the news has been a little light ahead of the July 4 holiday. Except of course that Highland Park, Illinois, held a 4th of July parade that was disrupted by a mass shooting, one that has killed at least six people and seriously wounded at least 24. A suspect has been detained but not yet indicted. Three other mass shooting events had already taken place in Illinois since last Friday. There have been several more across the country. We can't say that these latest atrocities stem from the recent US Supreme Court ruling that authorizes virtually anyone to carry a loaded firearm anywhere, but the ruling doesn't help quell such violence either.

There's plenty to sigh and roll your eyes about in Wisconsin, but the latest ruling from our Wisconsin Supreme Court deserves a special shoutout. The conservatives ruled that Frederick Prehn could remain on the Department of Natural Resources Board even though his term expired more than a year ago. Prehn claimed that he could remain until the Wisconsin Senate confirmed his replacement — which they are refusing to do for an Evers's appointment. The Republicans seem to be following the Mitch McConnell playbook — refusing to seat President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court but then rushing through The Former Guy's (TFG's). In his Milwaukee Urban editorial on the subject, Matt Rothschild, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, explains how the State Supreme Court ruling reinforces gerrymandering.

And in case you missed it, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel informs us that the Gableman "investigation" has lasted a year, has cost taxpayers $1 million, and has turned up NOTHING. Here's what the July 2, 2022, report offered:

In a delicious irony, the TFG is going after other grifters, the Washington Post reports. It seems he disapproves of other people using deceptive email and advertising to raise funds using his name and/or image. "While being known for his own false and misleading emails, Trump faces armies of unaffiliated fundraisers who ape his message and sometimes threaten Republicans in Trump’s name," reads the subhead. The article provides juicy examples of his own deceptions. I'm especially fond of this one: "In one small example on Friday, a text message to Trump’s fundraising list began, 'LIVE FROM MAR-A-LAGO! Pres Trump: It’s me, your FAVORITE President.' But Trump is not at Mar-a-Lago, having moved for the summer to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J." There are lots of giggle-filled moments in the piece but one seriously important one: "The problem has become more acute in recent months as small-dollar donations to Republican Party efforts have fallen, a trend strategists blame both on donors having less disposable income because of inflation and on their fatigue with the relentless fundraising appeals." Enjoy.

Friday's Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade has left many people angry and demoralized. The anger is righteous, but we cannot afford despair. Read Rebecca Traister's article The Necessity of Hope In New York Magazine for inspiration and direction.

A New England Journal of Medicine editorial is a blockbuster. It ends with this paragraph: “By abolishing longstanding legal protections, the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade serves American families poorly, putting their health, safety, finances, and futures at risk. In view of these predictable consequences, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine strongly condemn the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision.”

Governor Evers spoke strongly in his response to the immediate resumption of an 1849 law banning abortion in Wisconsin. Here's Channel 3000 in Madison coverage: "Gov. Tony Evers said he will grant clemency to any abortion providers who are convicted under the state’s 1849 abortion ban, during a rally Saturday ahead of the Wisconsin Democratic Party convention in La Crosse."

And here's a quotation from Governor Evers published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel online on June 25, 2022: "I don’t think that a law that was written before the Civil War, or before women secured the right to vote, should be used to dictate these intimate decisions on reproductive health."

In spite of everything, Grassroots North Shore must persevere. And as I remind you frequently, the organization cannot continue to do its work without you. One thing you can do to help: make a donation to support our election work.

Just a reminder: absentee ballots for the August 9 primary are being sent out already. I received mine on June 25! But it's not too late to request one at MyVote.WI.gov. COVID-19 is not the only or even the chief reason to vote absentee or early in person (see info about early voting). One vital thing you can do voting absentee or early allows you to do: apply to be a poll worker (i.e., an election inspector). In Milwaukee County, residents can find the qualifications and an online application at the Election Commission. In Ozaukee County and elsewhere, check with your municipal clerk. (Find contact information on our website.)

Just as important: Voter Protection. The Voter Protection Team for the Wisconsin Dems sends out a newsletter listing volunteer opportunities:

1. answering voter's questions on a hotline (use the "contact the organization" button to send email inquiring about the possibility);
2. making phone calls to recruit people to help protect voters;
3. becoming a poll observer (at a polling place on election day).

Getting out in force to protect voters has never been so important, given what the GOP is doing to undermine elections at local, state, and federal levels. Here's what we know about GOP plans in an article by Heidi Przybyla on June 1, 2022: ‘It’s going to be an army’: Tapes reveal GOP plan to contest elections. "Video recordings of Republican Party operatives meeting with grassroots activists provide an inside look at a multi-pronged strategy to target and potentially overturn votes in Democratic precincts: Install trained recruits as regular poll workers and put them in direct contact with party attorneys." We need to help protect voters and that means stepping up to do our part in these crucial elections.

Another way to turn out voters is to participate in voter registration at MATC in the fall with the American Federation of Teachers Local 212, representing the faculty of MATC. We need volunteers. We are in need of volunteers to help students register to vote at all four campuses. We will be conducting registration from 11:00-1:00 several days of week from the end of August through election day. Part of the role is to help students understand the importance of voting as well. We are asking volunteers to pick one or maybe two days per week to help. We understand that some weeks you might not be there but it is easier to coordinate if we have you on a specific day. If you are interested or have questions contact Dave Weingrod.

A glimmer of welcome news? A Politico article June 26, 2022, is headlined "Trump fatigue sets in: ‘Some donors are getting sick of the sh--show'." "As the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riots lays out Donald Trump’s obsessive efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, Trump allies have responded with the political equivalent of a collective eye roll." The SCOTUS decisions on gun safety, abortion, and religion in public schools haven't helped either. Here's the Daily Kos roundup of weekend polls on the impact of the Dobbs decision: Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The fallout continues as the GOP's regressive plan comes into focus.

Bottom line: We need every Democrat, Independent, and disaffected Republican — all those who support women's rights — to elect Democrats at all levels to mitigate the damage that the GOP plans to do to the social fabric of this country. We're counting on you to help us get all like-minded voters to the polls in August and November. And to support our election work. We're the majority. We need to act like it and win like it!

Finally, I want to leave you with a view of our political present and future by Ronald Brownstein in The Atlantic, June 24, 2022:

The whole article is worth a read.

The January 6 Committee hearings continue today at noon CDT, but there are plenty of places to read about the three that have already occurred and to catch a recap of today's action on MSNBC beginning at 7pm CDT. So this week's newsletter is focused on what Grassroots North Shore and other organizations are undertaking ahead of the August 9 primary.

We've all but completed our candidate information for the upcoming election. In our Elections 2022 section, we provide links to online information for each candidate in each race — including Governor Evers, Attorney General Josh Kaul, candidates for Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, and Assembly Districts 10, 23, 24, and 60. Plus, of course, US Senate and the 4th Congressional District. In contested races, we also provide a questionnaire with candidates' responses. In addition, we provide information on early in-person voting and videos of candidate interviews. We hope you will use these materials to become a well-informed voter. And of course that you will vote in the August 9 election.

In addition to the candidate information we provide in our Elections 2022 section, there's a recording of Kathleen Dunn interviewing the top four candidates for the nomination for US Senate. If you missed it or simply want to review it, you can find it on our YouTube site.

You can still request an absentee ballot at MyVote.WI.gov for the August and November elections. If you live in Milwaukee County — and you vote absentee by mail or early in person at your municipal clerk's office — you can sign up to be an election inspector in the county. (By the way, we're still waiting for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule on the use of drop boxes and whether someone can deliver a ballot to your mailbox or your municipal clerk for you. Stay tuned.) The Milwaukee Election Commission needs 1,500 election inspectors for the fall primary on Tuesday, August 9th, and 2,500 for the General Election on Tuesday, November 8th. New and returning election inspectors must take a training class. They will be paid $30.00 to take the class. Election inspectors will be paid a $220 stipend for working a full shift and $113 for working a half shift on Election Day. It's just one of the ways you can help Wisconsin vote! You can find information about qualifications and apply online.

We're already sending out 3300 postcards contacting voters in the hard-to-canvass areas of Ozaukee County and will be sending material to people who now find themselves in Assembly District 10 after the redistricting required every ten years. As the August election nears, we will be making phone calls, dropping literature, and knocking on doors. We'd love to have your help. So stay tuned for specific volunteer opportunities with Grassroots North Shore.

Among our ambitions around the November election, we plan to do what we can to support Ann Roe who is running for Congress in the 1st Congressional District (encompassing much of southeast Wisconsin). The district is winnable: it's one of two truly competitive congressional districts in this election cycle. Those of you who have wanderlust or happen to be in the district at some point ought to consider pitching in. You can find Ann's website here.

Right now, Supermarket Legends is running voter registration drives at two DMVs: the Chase Street locale and the one on Teutonia. Volunteers have been at the DMVs for many weeks, and no one has reported getting COVID. Volunteers wear masks, so the organization feels this is a COVID-safe activity. They need more volunteers to fill all the shifts daily. Please consider volunteering for a two- or three-hour shift. Supermarket Legends will provide training and you will work with someone. They have a real impact at the DMVs as people registered to vote are more likely to vote, and turnout will be key in the midterms. To volunteer, contact Jim Balk.

On a bittersweet note, WAVE (Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort) has announced that it's longtime program director Heidi Rose is retiring this week. In her role as program director, Heidi has done so much. Her work has touched (and even saved) countless lives in Wisconsin and beyond. She is truly irreplaceable. Those of you who know her and/or been involved with WAVE may want to honor her. Contact the organization for more information.

As for the investigation of the long-decided 2020 presidential election in our state, there was an interesting development this month. As WisPolitics reported: Judge fines Gableman, refers him to OLR for ‘unprofessional behavior.’

Finally, let me leave you with Paul Waldman's profound insight into where the Republican Party is right now: "When [Republicans] say they fear for democracy’s survival, what they’re afraid of is the idea that we might continue to have a competitive system, in which elections are contested, sometimes Democrats win, and when they do, they get to implement their policies." We have to defeat the Republican Party at every level of government. I hope we can count on your vote in August. And your volunteer efforts!

The focus of this week's newsletter is, of course, the January 6 Select Committee hearings. If you missed the opening hearing last Thursday evening, you can see it on PBS's website (beginning at 1:06) or see key bits and a written account in the New York Times. The second hearing, on Monday, June 13, is available online starting at about 19:30, in case you missed that one.

The first hearing provided an overview of the whole case and included a 7-point plan the former guy used to try to steal power. You can read a synopsis of it on Talking Points Memo. The second hearing focused on the number of times the cast of White House and campaign officials repeatedly told the ex-president that the election was not stolen, there was no widespread voter fraud, and the voting machinery did not "flip" votes from him to President Biden. Former US District Attorney Joyce Vance, commenting on MSNBC, noted that the lies tRump kept issuing and still issues will not provide an adequate defense in a criminal court because he exhibits what is known as "willful blindness." You can read a slightly different version of the same idea in an op-ed piece by Jennifer Rubin, a former Republican, in the Washington Post this morning.

The schedule and guide to how to watch is available with the caveat that the hearing originally scheduled for Wednesday, June 15, has been postponed for technical reasons and has not, as of this writing, been rescheduled.

And in case you missed the big local news last week, a judge finds Michael Gableman's office in contempt during tense court appearance in which the former justice refused to respond to questions."

On Sunday, June 5, Grassroots North Shore sponsored a forum with the four top candidates for the Democratic nomination for US Senate. Watch it on YouTube.

The first hearing of the January 6 Select Committee will take place Thursday, June 9, in prime time at 7pm CDT. Even if you think you already know enough about the previous administration's numerous efforts to stay in power illegitimately, it's absolutely MUST SEE TV. Why? Because like the Watergate hearings 50 years ago, these hearings promise to weave a riveting, coherent, and above all comprehensive narrative tying together all the numerous strands and major participants and showing what Liz Cheney believes is an "extremely broad..." and "well-organized" conspiracy that took place over months.

There are numerous ways to watch. The Washington Post is reporting that ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC and CNN will all air the proceedings in full. "The Washington Post will have anchored coverage and analysis beginning Thursday night on www.washingtonpost.com. Whether you watch at home or join with others, make a plan to see the whole thing.

Carlene Bechen and the Oregon Area Progressives are hosting a watch party. Although the Zoom is fully subscribed, the event will also be in a live stream on Facebook. Watching with others adds to the fun!

The primary election is coming up fast. And there are several things you need to do to prepare.

1. Make a plan to vote:
   • request an absentee ballot for the August 9 primary and the November 8 general election at MyVote.WI.gov;
   • or plan to vote early in person, beginning no later than July 26 and ending on August 5 (consult our early in-person voting page for community-specific information);
2. inform yourself about the candidates in every race on our Elections 2022 pages;
3. meet and greet some of the key candidates in our area at Virmond Park in Ozaukee County from 4pm to 6pm on Sunday, June 12 (drop in any time during the event).

Voting may be the most important action you can take for every election. But it is definitely not the only thing you can or perhaps should do to help safeguard our elections. The Milwaukee County Election Commission is soliciting Election Inspectors, also called poll workers (for people who live in Milwaukee County).

Help make elections in Milwaukee County run smoothly if you can.

While we're talking election information, I want to alert you to some important information in this year of redistricting. Although many people won't notice any changes to their electoral districts, it's important to know what happened, why it happened, and where those who have been moved finally landed. Cheryl Maranto and Deborah Patel are offering a series of "Know Your District" meetings. For Assembly District 10, sessions will take place on Thursday, June 16, and on Wednesday, July 13, at 7pm. For Assembly District 23, the sessions are Monday, June 20, and Thursday, July 14. For Assembly District 24, the sessions are Tuesday, June 21, and Friday, July 15. All of these programs begin at 7pm. You can sign up here.

Finally, we are sad to announce that Mike Maher, a long-time and active supporter of Grassroots North Shore, has died. The viewing and funeral were last week but you can read his obituary in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

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Let's start off with an announcement from the Ozaukee County Democrats: "Exciting news! Our very own Bob Tatterson (24th Assembly) and Dan Larsen (60th Assembly) announced their candidacies for state assembly at this week's Ozaukee Democrats meeting! .... And here's a link to Larsen's nomination form." Be sure you live in the district before signing his nomination papers. And that goes for any nomination papers you sign.

It's really important that the Democrats field candidates in every race. Not only do nominees help get the message out; they really help elect others up and down the ballot. How? They make it more likely that people will turn out to vote. We're going to need every last blue vote we can muster to return Governor Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul to their offices. And we need to elect a new Lieutenant Governor and Treasurer. Plus, the Secretary of State is also on the ballot in the August 9 primary and the fall general election. We need to win all five statewide offices plus the race for US Senate if we want to keep our rights and our democracy from falling into the hands of would-be autocrats.

Behind the scenes, right-wing operatives are ginning up ways to thwart the will of the voters. Here's one you've probably never heard of: a Talking Points Memo/ProPublica article about Jay Stone and his role as Big Lie proponent in Wisconsin.

Last weekend, the Wisconsin GOP held its convention. Can we say Republicans in Disarray? Here's how Urban Milwaukee announced the fact that Republicans failed to endorse a gubernatorial candidate ahead of the August 9 primary. As the article notes, "After a weekend of extreme politics, the race to the bottom for the WisGOP gubernatorial nomination continued at the state convention. It appears that the chaos will not be ending any time soon: the Republican Party of Wisconsin chose not to endorse a single candidate ahead of the primary on August 9." At the same convention Assembly Speaker Robin Vos was booed when he said the 2020 election results cannot be decertified. "We need to focus on going forward," he told the audience. Let chaos reign!

A few more nomination papers have trickled in. To sign any candidate's papers, you must live in the district the candidate is running in. You need to sign nomination papers and get them back in the mail (email and fax won't cut it) ASAP. You can search on your own address to make sure you know what district you're in.

• Peter Peckarsky is running for the nomination for US Senate. Because it's a statewide race, you don't need to look up a district map. You can download his nomination papers and send them back by mail (Peckarsky For Wisconsin, 1345 N. Jefferson Street, Milwaukee, WI 53202). In the event of a delay in seeing the papers and snail mail will not be fast enough, please contact the campaign by email ([email protected]) or telephone (414-719-1838) and the campaign will schedule someone to pick up the fully signed papers from you.
  
  
• Steven Olikara is also running to be the Democrats' US Senate nominee. Here is his nomination form and a Cap Times piece about him. Send nomination forms to Olikara for Senate, P.O. Box 510216,Milwaukee, WI 53203.
  
  
• Darrin Madison is running for Assembly District 10. You can help him get on the ballot if you live in the new AD10. (Look up your new voting district here.) Send his nomination papers to 4080 N. 21st St. Apt#4, Milwaukee, WI 53209. Or you can phone or text his campaign and someone can pick them up from you: 414-303-2404 or 414-366-5778. WisPolitics.com published an article about him recently.

You can find others' nomination forms on our Elections 2022 pages.

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend, everyone! I can smell the grilling already.

Visit Grassroots North Shore on Facebook and Like Us!

         On May 10th, in her testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated,  “I believe that eliminating the right of women to make decisions about when and whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades.”  She predicted that the labor force participation of women would fall, that their incomes would fall, and that their career paths would be delimited. Committee-member  Senator Scott (R-SC) responded by labeling her analysis "callous." He spoke over her while she was talking, smothering her response: "... that's the truth."     A few days later,  Scott posted an opinion piece in the Washington Post stating that his extremely hard-working single mother had raised her children while working multiple jobs (which would seem to buttress Yellen’s argument, not his). [1]

         Economists have produced a large body of economic research on the relationship between abortion access and the economic status of women. An excellent place to initiate study of the topic appeared on November 30, 2021, on the Brookings Institution website, entitled  "What can economic research tell us about the effect of abortion access on women's lives? [2]" by two economists, Professor Caitlin Myers of Middlebury College and economist Morgan Welch of the Brookings Institution. They point out that in their plea before the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the State of Mississippi asserts “there is simply no causal link between the availability of abortion and the capacity of women to act in society” and hence no reason to believe that abortion access has shaped “the ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation.”  In strong disagreement, 154 distinguished economists provide hard evidence in their September 20, 2021 amicus brief ("friend of the court brief")[3].

The amicus brief is rather long, but a few samples of the findings can be summarized here. From page 10: ”For young women, the estimated reduction in birth rates due to abortion legalization was three times as much as that of all women. Legalization of abortion, together with policies specifically granting young women the ability to obtain an abortion without parental consent, reduced teen motherhood by 34% and reduced teen marriage by 20%.”

Several findings appear on Page 14, which can be summarized: Abortion legalization has shaped families and the circumstances into which children are born, reducing the number of children who lived in single-parent households, lived in poverty, received welfare and social services, suffered child neglect and abuse. Moreover, children in those families with abortion access had increasing rates of college graduation. 

And, from page 23: “Approximately 49% of women who seek abortions are poor, 75% are low income, 59% already have children, and 55% report a recent disruptive life event such as the death of a close friend or family member, job loss, the termination of a relationship with a partner, or overdue rent or mortgage obligations.”

              Because the amicus brief was submitted in mid-September,  the justices and their interns had two months to consider the arguments and evidence presented in it.  But during those oral arguments in December, Chief Justice Roberts interrupted the presentation of the economic evidence and waved it off as irrelevant. Furthermore, in the famously-leaked draft opinion written by Justice Alito, there is no evidence that the economics studies detailed in the amicus brief were taken into consideration, or even read. Evidently, the predictable economic consequences of the court's decision are not considered a part of the decision-making process.[4]  

[1] (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/17/tim-scott-abortion-single-black-mothers-economic-problems/)

[2] (https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-can-economic-research-tell-us-about-the-effect-of-abortion-access-on-womens-lives/)

[3] (https://www.supremecourt.gov/ DocketPDF/19/19-1392/193084/20210920175559884_19-392bsacEconomists.pdf).

[4] Anyone wishing to pursue this topic further would be well served by first reading the Myers/Welch article in Brookings before reading the wealth of information and references contained in the economists' amicus brief.  

William L. Holahan is Emeritus Professor and former Chair of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

his week's newsletter will introduce a regular feature: Say No to RoJo. But before we get to that, some upcoming Grassroots North Shore events you won't want to miss. On Sunday, June 5, we're holding a Zoom webinar for the top four candidates for the US Senate nomination. And on Sunday, June 12, we're holding an outdoor meet-and-greet with those same four candidates plus candidates for Lt. Governor at Virmond Park in Ozaukee County.

And I have a few more links to candidates' nomination papers to share with you.

• Gillian Battino, running for Treasurer: nomination form | instructions
• Mandela Barnes, running for US Senate: nomination form
• Alexia Sabor, running for Secretary of State: nomination form

In a final note this week, there's news about a current lawsuit that seeks to to knock Senator Ron Johnson, Representative Tom Tiffany, and Representative Scott Fitzgerald off the ballot for aiding the insurrection on January 6, 2021. Our own Grassroots North Shore co-chair, Cheryl Maranto, is one of the plaintiffs bringing the suit.

Unlike previous efforts in North Carolina (to get Madison Cawthorn off the ballot) and the one in Georgia (to get Marjorie Taylor Greene off the ballot) — both of which failed, this one is in a federal court. An article in UpNorthNews provides a clear explanation of what the suit entails. A hearing on what's known as "standing" — whether these specific plaintiffs are entitled to bring this suit — will take place soon.

Now we turn our attention to the main electoral event of the year: the November 8 election. Let's start with some excellent reasons to re-elect Governor Evers! Although I do not usually include graphics in the newsletter, this one is just too good to pass up. We need protection from the shenanigans the GOP legislature gets up to. And Tony's our guy!

MAKE A PLAN TO VOTE! And request your absentee ballots for the August 9 partisan primary and the November 8 election, if you have not already done so. Absentee ballots can be returned either by mail or by delivering the ballot to your municipal clerk. Right now we are awaiting a decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court on the availability of drop boxes. You should also make sure you know what Assembly district you are now in by using the search icon — in the lower right corner.

    A FIRST LOOK AT MARKETS AND POLICY[1]

         To foster the economic prosperity of a society of 330 million people, the US relies on both a market system and different levels of representative government.  Often public policy questions center on the proper role of government in complementing market activity, and when to let the market self-regulate.  Contemporary headliner examples include whether to control or end the use of fossil fuels; or to regulate health insurance markets or nationalize that service; or to subsidize higher education tuition versus enabling students to finance their education through long-term borrowing.   Questions of this type are inherently political questions, often accompanied by great polarization, angst, and concern over election outcomes.

        Advancement of public discourse about economics requires a common "language," i.e., an understanding of what people mean when they use key economic terms and concepts.  Of particular concern is the frequent use of the misunderstood term: "free markets," a term at odds with core economic analysis of markets.  

        The powerful forces of markets can be used to complement the regulation of utilities such as electricity, natural gas, and cable TV; to guide the construction and operation of infrastructure projects such as streets, roads, bridges, and airline flight paths; and to modulate climate change.  Examples such as these, and many more, show the importance of economic understanding in the development of public policy and in the evaluation of politicians at election time.

       Although every societal problem has a significant economic component, Democrats seem disinclined to use economics in their policy development and public discourse, preferring to frame issues with vague references to fairness and justice.  Meanwhile, self-branded conservatives invoke with gusto the verisimilitude of economics, confidently asserting that economic goals of growth and prosperity can be met within a robust market system that is free of government intervention.   In their telling, "free markets" are self-regulating,  serving the public better than if the government were to intervene.   

Model-Building in Economic Education

   In contrast to contemporary liberals and conservatives, economists are more cautiously analytical in determining whether and how markets can serve the public interest.   Economists introduce economics through the  "competitive market model," a composite of principles describing the conditions required for a market to help society improve its economic well-being despite Nature's scarce resources.

 Profit and Loss

   The process of competition coordinates myriad choices. When buyers can choose among a large number of sellers, those sellers are incentivized to provide goods and services of reliable quality, durability and price. Price is determined by the interplay between sellers’ supply and the buyers’ demand for goods and services.  Investors enter an industry when profits can be expected, and exit to avoid expected losses. Price is forced down by entry or up by exit, until a "Goldilocks" price level is reached at which shortages and surpluses are eliminated: at that price the amount buyers want to buy equals the amount sellers want to sell.  

The most surprising and counter-intuitive result from this model is that each of the competitors intends to improve their own profit but the process of competition transforms that intent into a greater quantity and lower price for the benefit of buyers.   This was first proposed by Adam Smith: self-interested profit-seekers  guided by the process of competition – – "as if by an invisible hand" -- to serve the public interest "even though that is no part of their intent."   Smith referred to this as a “system of natural liberty.” 

   This competitive market outcome requires key preconditions, including a large number of independent sellers as well as well-informed buyers.  Economists beginning with Smith have warned against over-reliance on the beneficent outcome of competitive markets without regard to these preconditions. He emphasized the incentive for individual sellers to attempt anti-competitive efforts:   "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."  For example, if firms obstruct the process of competition by forming cartels -- i.e.,  agreements among competitors to reduce total output to force prices up --  consumers are denied the benefits of competition, such as reasonable prices for drugs or gasoline or meat.

Further Toward Realism: Competitive Markets Require Rules Set by Government

   Markets cannot function free of government. Instead, they require certain foundations provided by government, including rule of contract law, property rights law, ownership rights law, and other sectors of the law that form the “rules of the game.”  Because mutually beneficial exchange is central to the functioning of the competitive market, tradable ownership rights must be created and protected.  Although these legal systems are prerequisites for markets to function, they are a public responsibility; markets cannot provide them. 

Another implication of the model that becomes explicit in practice: for the competitive process to serve the public interest, exchanges must be mutually beneficial to all parties affected by the transaction.  Consequently, all costs must be borne by buyers or sellers or shared between them, not shed to "third parties" external to the market's buyer-seller transactions. An example of such external costs would be an agreement between buyers and sellers that imposes noise, or danger, or the sight of ghastly architecture onto people who are not parties to the arrangement.  

"Free Markets" versus Economics   

       The term "free market" is used very frequently in public discourse, particularly by people who brand themselves "conservative," and whose all-purpose policy prescription is tax cuts and deregulation.   When the word "free" is affixed to "market" it conveys a market that is free of government involvement in its operation.    

       Because the economics profession has devoted a great deal of attention to the benefits of competition, "free markets" are often conflated with "competitive markets."  This is a mistake; they are very different concepts.    Economists frame economic problems as seeking ways to improve economic well-being by overcoming some of Nature's constraints on resources -- land, labor, capital equipment, and time.   In that conception, economic freedom rises or falls depending upon whether the society's access to resources increases or decreases, whether that involves government or not.    

Fossil Fuel Freedom?

       The competitive market model not only lays out the preconditions for market efficiency, but it also pinpoints possible remedies when those preconditions are not met.   That is, if those missing pieces can be provided through regulation, then economic freedom rises even though the market is less free from government.  For instance, as the competitive model shows, the market will tend to ignore external costs of the use of fossil fuels (i.e., pollution, emission of heat-trapping gas), and consequently underprice and, thereby, encourage overuse of those fuels.    To correct for the too-low price of fossil fuels, economists recommend implementation of a carbon tax to force buyers and sellers to factor in the external costs to their decision-making. With that correction, economic efficiency rises because of, not in spite of, increased government involvement.  While the market will be less free, economic performance and economic freedom improve.   This example and many more show the inherent contradiction between free-market concepts and the peer-reviewed findings of the economics profession.  

William L. Holahan is Emeritus Professor and former Chair of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

[1] This is the first of several articles on markets and public policy, written with the conviction that misunderstanding of this concept, deepened by dis-information from economic opportunists, is central to the polarization facing the nation.