Wisconsin - laboratory or graveyard of democracy?

Wisconsin has a long and colorful political history. We have recently been described as a purple state, but it might be more accurate to describe us as a wandering-all-over-the-political map state. Our state has brought forth a diverse array of political characters. Any state that can produce both Fighting Bob LaFollette and Joe McCarthy clearly has no consistent political philosophy.

Wisconsin has for many years been known as a laboratory for democracy, and the birthplace of many innovative and progressive ideas. The progressive movement and the Wisconsin Idea gave us many firsts - Primary Elections, Workman's Compensation, state regulation of railroads, and progressive taxation. All of these either originated in Wisconsin or were forced through by the progressive movement which found its original home here.  We are even known for having in the past had a socialist mayor and government in Milwaukee. This was known as Sewer Socialism. Read this Wikipedia article for a brief rundown of that unusual era. 

More recent developments in the state have been less driven by grassroots political discourse and more by a legislature heavily involved with business and the profit motive. We were pioneers in school vouchers, which have had a very mixed rate of success in the state, often funding private education for those who were already paying for private education, and having uneven results with improving the educational system in the state. Our current school funding plan preserves the illusion that our state legislature is increasing funding for schools even though the budget changes only serve to lower property taxes. We also have led the way in having our laws written by businesses, including the writing of ethics and recusal rules for our Supreme Court. Our electoral districts have for some years been perhaps the most gerrymandered of any state - though this is a bright light as we have this year drawn fairer maps which may make it possible for our citizens to pick their representatives rather than having the representatives picked by a map. 

In this election season we are seeing increases in dark-money-funded advertising which is often misleading from both parties and spreading misinformation. One of the current presidential candidates continually spouts lies and misinformation which is believed by his followers and which is causing havoc in some comunities. Our national and state political discourse has devolved into name-calling and lies on the parts of many politicians. In many ways, Wisconsin has been a leader in promoting democratic ideals, but currently we seem to be leading the charge toward rude partisanship, one-party control, and oligarchy. 

On this International Democracy Day we have many opportunities to defend democracy in Wisconsin, and nationally. We can carefully evaluate the news we receive to determine the source and bias behind it - don't even get me started on the nonsense floating through social media. We can work for political candidates who we believe are honest and have our best interests at heart. And most importantly we can go to the polls on November 5 to speak up for our beliefs and interests. Let's work on saving democracy in Wisconsin. 

This article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit usdemocracyday.org.