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Wisconsin Republican governor's candidate calls for "hiring mercenaries" and "ballot harvesting"....
This story is behind a paywall, sorry:
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2021/10/26/kleefisch-calls-hiring-mercenaries-win-race-governor/8542557002/
The story is contained in this very long important thread:
Link to tweet
very long thread: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1453099218478977026.html
Faith or Fear Thread -- 2022 in key swing states and the determination of democracy as we know it. @JoeTrippi @LincolnWatchman @ProjectLincoln @reedgalen @stuartpstevens @TheRickWilson @jefftimmer
There will be a tendency to focus on the national elections in 22, those for the House and Senate. While they are certainly critically important, there are state races that will have a far greater impact on the outcome in 2024 of our democracy's survival as we know it.
Governor and AG races in WI, MI, and PA, and to a slightly lesser extent in GA, AZ, and OH will be critically important. Without divided government to serve as a check in these states, we are headed for a disaster in 2024.
Thus, when the leading Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin makes comments to activists like those cited today in the @journalsentinel from an event in Door Country, we should all be concerned. jsonline.com/story/news/pol…
What is striking is @RebeccaforReal appears to have known what she was saying wasn't right. She didn't want it recorded so "democrats could use it." (or in my case a former GOP) The truth is she didn't want it public because while she thinks she needs to say it for a primary, she didn't want it recorded because she realizes how damaging such a statement would be for winning the general election. A majority of people in Wisconsin are pro-democracy and pretty proud of their free and fair election tradition.
If we think of democracy as a bell curve most of our governance & politics fall either into consensus or partisan. Governance in a democracy is win-win which comes from consensus.
Elections are zero-sum partisan (only one wins) but our system ensures win-win through regular free & fair elections to create consensus through time. I consent to be governed by those I disagree with, knowing I will have the opportunity to govern in the future.
Think about big issues we have confronted in the past. Most of them were consensus-driven or partisan driven to consensus -- the Cold War, our National Debt, Judicial Nominations, Welfare Reform or the conduct of elections.
Less normal, but not outside are the occasional that are perceived as extreme but built around grievances that are real. Think Universal Suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, the New Deal like Social Security, (I would argue the Reagan Revolution), or Marriage Equality.
Those with power deemed as extreme each of those at the outset yet all became a norm for the better (I know my friends on the left see the Reagan Revolution differently as will those on the right with parts of the New Deal- I get it).
What happens rarely when a democracy is sick, is extremism based on false or contrived grievances takes hold. Extremism derived from partisanship gone wrong. Those moments when answers to Psychological Distress take hold through Cognitively Simplistic answers.
This is when Overconfidence in one group's contrived grievances and the simplistic solutions accepted as truths manifest in Intolerance. The more of this radicalization you see the more terminal the state of a democracy's health.
A credible candidate for Governor of a state calling for mercenaries to help get elected is such a state of radicalization. It can lead to the next state of violence. In fact, we have already seen that happen which is what makes such pronouncements so dangerous.
Our Democracy depends not only on the documents upon which we are founded but equally on political norms by which we conduct body politic. Today, those norms are failing. The choice of Cognitively Simplistic answers by irresponsible politicians leads to radicalization & violence
The 2022 elections will matter more than any since the period prior to the Civil War. They will be the next most important after 2024. Yet, if we don't get them right by creating consequences for those pushing towards the abyss of radicalization in 22, 2024 may be predetermined.
This reality, more important than policies or partisanship, must be the litmus test by which each of us makes our choices on the federal level, but equally on the state & local levels. You can't have the coalition without the insanity. Both ways is no longer an option..
There will be a tendency to focus on the national elections in 22, those for the House and Senate. While they are certainly critically important, there are state races that will have a far greater impact on the outcome in 2024 of our democracy's survival as we know it.
Governor and AG races in WI, MI, and PA, and to a slightly lesser extent in GA, AZ, and OH will be critically important. Without divided government to serve as a check in these states, we are headed for a disaster in 2024.
Thus, when the leading Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin makes comments to activists like those cited today in the @journalsentinel from an event in Door Country, we should all be concerned. jsonline.com/story/news/pol…
What is striking is @RebeccaforReal appears to have known what she was saying wasn't right. She didn't want it recorded so "democrats could use it." (or in my case a former GOP) The truth is she didn't want it public because while she thinks she needs to say it for a primary, she didn't want it recorded because she realizes how damaging such a statement would be for winning the general election. A majority of people in Wisconsin are pro-democracy and pretty proud of their free and fair election tradition.
If we think of democracy as a bell curve most of our governance & politics fall either into consensus or partisan. Governance in a democracy is win-win which comes from consensus.
Elections are zero-sum partisan (only one wins) but our system ensures win-win through regular free & fair elections to create consensus through time. I consent to be governed by those I disagree with, knowing I will have the opportunity to govern in the future.
Think about big issues we have confronted in the past. Most of them were consensus-driven or partisan driven to consensus -- the Cold War, our National Debt, Judicial Nominations, Welfare Reform or the conduct of elections.
Less normal, but not outside are the occasional that are perceived as extreme but built around grievances that are real. Think Universal Suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, the New Deal like Social Security, (I would argue the Reagan Revolution), or Marriage Equality.
Those with power deemed as extreme each of those at the outset yet all became a norm for the better (I know my friends on the left see the Reagan Revolution differently as will those on the right with parts of the New Deal- I get it).
What happens rarely when a democracy is sick, is extremism based on false or contrived grievances takes hold. Extremism derived from partisanship gone wrong. Those moments when answers to Psychological Distress take hold through Cognitively Simplistic answers.
This is when Overconfidence in one group's contrived grievances and the simplistic solutions accepted as truths manifest in Intolerance. The more of this radicalization you see the more terminal the state of a democracy's health.
A credible candidate for Governor of a state calling for mercenaries to help get elected is such a state of radicalization. It can lead to the next state of violence. In fact, we have already seen that happen which is what makes such pronouncements so dangerous.
Our Democracy depends not only on the documents upon which we are founded but equally on political norms by which we conduct body politic. Today, those norms are failing. The choice of Cognitively Simplistic answers by irresponsible politicians leads to radicalization & violence
The 2022 elections will matter more than any since the period prior to the Civil War. They will be the next most important after 2024. Yet, if we don't get them right by creating consequences for those pushing towards the abyss of radicalization in 22, 2024 may be predetermined.
This reality, more important than policies or partisanship, must be the litmus test by which each of us makes our choices on the federal level, but equally on the state & local levels. You can't have the coalition without the insanity. Both ways is no longer an option..
eta: There are more images and graphs at the original thread, sorry too lazy to copy and paste all of them.
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
