The autocratic shift is not irreversible
“Wisconsin may be stepping back from the abyss,” writes Bill Leuders at The Bulwark. New maps passed by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, mean Wisconsin’s legislative races will be the most competititve in years. Republicans previously engineered years’ worth of lopsided representation in a state in which Democrats like Evers can win statewide races. Now, “more than forty incumbent lawmakers, mostly Republicans, [have] to either move or run against each other.”
The change is not because Republicans have had a change of heart. So why did Republicans who rejected Evers’ appointments and refused funding for the University of Wisconsin’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts go along now? Because Democrats wrested back control of the state Supreme Court last April when voters statewide “overwhelmingly elected liberal Janet Protasiewicz” to the court:
They feared that the state supreme court’s new liberal majority would choose maps that were even less friendly to their side. “It was a matter of choosing to be stabbed, shot, poisoned, or led to the guillotine,” explained Republican state Sen. Van Wanggaard. “We chose to be stabbed, so we can live to fight another day.” He was speaking figuratively.
Having leverage counts. Ask Donald “91 Counts” Trump. Using it while you’ve got it counts more.
On Saturday at North Carolina Democrats’ State Executive Committee meeting in Rocky Mount, Democratic National Committee vice chairman Ken Martin, also chair of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), urged the assembled choir to cheer up:
Ken Martin, who was the featured speaker for the state executive committee’s winter meeting, said Saturday that he believes Democrats have the tendency to be the “woe is me” and “the half-glass empty” party.
At the meeting, held at Rocky Mount High School, Martin spoke of hearing party members saying, “This Democrat is too young. This Democrat is too old. This Democrat is too progressive. This Democrat is too conservative.”
Those complaints are hurting the party, he noted.
“We’ve got to stop that,” Martin said. “We’ve got to stiffen our spine, raise our heads, be proud to be Democrats — and we have to start evangelizing and stop agonizing.”
Martin said that the Democratic Party has an amazing story to tell — “and that’s each of your jobs as party leaders,” he added.
What the Rocky Mount Telegram does not report is Martin’s celebration of the DFL’s progressive policy wins in 2023 with a one-seat Senate margin, control of the House, and Democrat Tim Walz in the governor’s mansion. Democrats delivered “huge investments, tax rebates, paid leave, and abortion rights” and more. CBS News reported:
For the DFL, the 2023 legislative session was anything but low-key, with a wave of progressive bills passed. Cannabis was legalized, abortion access became state law, gun control measures, including expanded background checks and a red flag law, were passed. So was paid family leave, free meals for all K-12 students, felon voting rights and driver’s licenses for the undocumented.
Legislative majorities are fleeting, Martin noted. It is crucial to use them while you have them. Don’t hold back. Underreach is worse than overreach.
“It is essential that we step back and recognize the tremendous progress we’re making. We need to celebrate our successes — and we need to make sure everyone else knows about them as well,” Martin insisted. “You see, if we’re not willing to take joy in our accomplishments, how can we expect anyone else to?”
Look what Biden has accomplished with his one-seat Senate margin and a House Republican blockade.
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