Let’s reinvigorate the competition of ideas
It seems contradictory – how can the fight to end partisan gerrymandering be nonpartisan? All political parties seek advantage in elections. The whole point is to win! But as in sports, how you play the game matters. Fouls and strikes are called to enforce rules of fair competition.
In one place and time, gerrymandering systematically advantages one party and disadvantages the other. At any one time gerrymandering benefits Democrats in some places (such as Maryland) and Republicans in others (such as Wisconsin).
When a city is cut into two or three pieces and appended to exurban and rural areas, all city voters lose the ability to influence policies that directly affect their lives. Their “representative” doesn’t care because, by design, they are a minority of the representative’s constituents.
Partisan gerrymandering is inherently anti-majoritarian. Elected “representatives” don’t need to support policies that are popular among Democrats, Republicans and independents. Policies like these: 89% of the public supports background checks to buy firearms, 87% support significant infrastructure spending.
Gerrymandered districts create an unfair system. Ultimately we all lose.
The quest for a fair, transparent process to draw legislative maps is nonpartisan. It promotes the competition of ideas about how best to serve the public interest.
Did you miss the State Superintendent of Schools Forum?
If you missed the forum featuring Deb Kerr and Jill Underly, you can catch up with it here. While you are there check out everything on our YouTube Channel.
Spring 2021 Endorsements
We're endorsing Dr. Jill Underly for State Superintendent of Public Instruction and Katie Kegel for Milwaukee County Circuit Court, Branch 3. See our Endorsements page for our reasoning.
Keystone Pipeline is no loss
In defense of the tube that would have pumped thick, low-grade petroleum, known as the Keystone Pipeline, through the center of this country, those defending this project have cooked up a barrel of nonsense. They claim that President Joe Biden’s executive order closing down work on the Keystone would put tens of thousands out of work.
Let us all be reminded that the people who work on this pipeline, like all construction projects, are on a temporary job. Once it is finished, or in this case terminated, they move onto the next construction project.
Did we all freak out for the workers who completed Miller Park? Not if we didn’t want to be laughed at, because we all knew they had other projects waiting for them.
So, no, there are not tens of thousands of jobs at risk here. If anything, the green economy, if done right, will employ many orders of magnitude of people.