Over at the Journal Sentinel, Craig Gilbert writes about the political divide in For voters in this purple part of Wisconsin [Richland Center], the impeachment fight is a symbol of broken politics. The story establishes a false equivalence between those who support impeachment and those who oppose it, as though the conflict between these views…
Politics
Bad Ideas, Politics, Wisconsin, WISGOP
In Wisconsin, Gerrymandering Has Brought Out the Crackpots
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads – and it’s true – that in Wisconsin gerrymandering has disproportionately favored WISGOP candidates. It’s done more, it seems: gerrymandering has produced a decade’s worth of crackpot Republicans: Walker’s crony economics, Ryan’s trickle-down tax bill, Priebus’s sycophancy to Trump, Fitzgerald’s literal serenades for Trump, etc. Occasionally, these men spoke in libertarian language, but…
City, Congress, Fifth Congressional District, Never Trump, Politics, Scott Fitzgerald, WISGOP
Her Constituents Can Be Proud
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here in Whitewater, part of the gerrymandered Fifth Congressional District, we have for a congressman a septuagenarian multi-millionaire (Sensenbrenner) who votes with Trump, and his most-likely successor is a state senator (Fitzgerald) who sings a Trump train song. Men who tried all day to be embarrassments wouldn’t be able to match Sensenbrenner’s and Fitzgerald’s natural tendencies…
Bad Ideas, Boosterism, Mendacity, Politics, Trump, Waste Digesters
Saying and Believing Anything
by JOHN ADAMS •
Adam Serwer, writing on Twitter in response to a series of distortions from the conservative Federalist website, states plainly the truth of Trump-supporting lies: There is no incentive to correct because the targeted audience will believe anything pro-Trump they are told, whereas acknowledging error would signal weakness and insufficient devotion to the Great Leader. Yes,…
America, History, Liberty, Never Trump, Politics, Trump
After This Conflict Is Won
by JOHN ADAMS •
These last years have been difficult, and one can reasonably expect worse from Trumpism before that ideology is consigned – as it will be – to the political outer darkness. A necessary condition for optimism is an understanding of the present from which one can build a better future. (Local boosterism and babbittry are failures…
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Boosterism, CDA, Local Government, Politics, School District, Taxes/Taxation
School Board, 8.26.19: Insatiable
by JOHN ADAMS •
School Board Meeting 08/26/19 from Whitewater Community TV on Vimeo. Update, evening of 9.9.19: Although this discussion of tax incremental financing (TIF) took place at a school board meeting, a program like this is (obviously) very much an initiative of city government and special interests. School districts like Whitewater’s have a role on a joint…
CDA, City, Congress, Crony Capitalism, Free Market, Gerrymandering, Government Spending, Local Government, Never Trump, Politics, Republicans, State Capitalism, That Which Paved the Way
F. James Sensenbrenner Heads for the Exit
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads that F. James Sensenbrenner, the pro-Trump septuagenarian multimillionaire congressman from a gerrymandered district that stretches all the way down to Whitewater, is retiring when his current term ends. Consigned to the minority forever must look unappealing. How time flies! It was not long ago that then-chairman of the Whitewater Community Development Authority was scampering…
Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump
Trump as a ‘grotesque inflation of the presidency’
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are many ways in which Trump is grotesque – bigot, ignoramus, grifter, liar, admirer of America’s adversaries — but it’s his authoritarian desires that makes these immoralities or errors dangerous to others. As all people are flawed, so in proportion a thirst for control carries risk to others; from those who are not flawed…
America, Democrats, Education, Politics, Republicans
Differing Partisan Views on Education
by JOHN ADAMS •
A few days ago, a commenter (‘J’) at this website linked to the Pew Research Center’s latest survey data on partisan views of education. See The Growing Partisan Divide in Views of Higher Education. Kim Taylor (of Pew) summarizes the survey: Americans see value in higher education – whether they graduated from college or not. Most say…
Libertarians, Liberty, Never Trump, Politics, Poll, Trump, Wisconsin
Trump-Busting Issues for Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Writing at Urban Milwaukee, Bruce Thompson looks at popular national issues to use against Trump, matches them against Wisconsin-specific polling, and offers How Democrats Can Beat Trump [in Wisconsin]. Many of the most popular poll issues are not libertarian ones, it’s almost unnecessary to say. They’re issues that have national and statewide support, and so…
America, Babbittry, Boosterism, Mendacity, Politics, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
Origins, National
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Gaslit Nation podcast, guest Greg Sargent contends that the ‘90s, under the influence of Newt Gingrich and his ilk, are the origin of contemporary Trumpism. Sargent points to the craziness of anti-Clinton conspiracy theories as the beginning of our current condition. (Our current condition is one in which lies don’t have to…
America, Authoritarianism, City, Culture, Federal Government, Libertarians, Liberty, Local Government, Politics, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Trump-Russia
The Biggest Story of Our Time
by JOHN ADAMS •
In life – at least life in a well-ordered, free society – the highest matters are not political. They are familial, cultural, social – involving greater pursuits than contending over the role of the state. Under this view, one contends over politics (as libertarians do) not because it is too important but because it must…
Blogging, Culture, Local Government, Newspapers, Politics, State Government
Into the Void
by JOHN ADAMS •
Across Wisconsin, newspapers have not distinguished themselves since the Great Recession. Most have descended into a cautious, center-right boosterism. They acted on their publishers’ own politics, and on the politics their elderly (but dwindling) readership. Doing so has only exacerbated their problems. The time to break from this was before – or even during –…
