How to Guide to Surviving the Donarchy
I see a lot of concern around the internet that we are getting dangerously close to having a President Donald Trump. The hidden message within that concern is a desperate plea for a way to prevent this from happening.
Forget about Trump. Don’t get me wrong; he’s incredibly dangerous and we should do everything we can legally to prevent him from the office. Or any office. But if those dark days come to pass, we can’t all move to Canada. Luckily, our democracy has some very cool steps in place to prevent a tyrant from ruling as a king. And you can start right now to prevent the destruction of a potential Trump Monarchy.
Step 1 — On April 5th in Wisconsin, you will get to vote for one of the candidates in the Presidential primary. That’s a big deal, but it’s a primary, so it’s not even the biggest deal on the ballot.
Were you aware that there are other races that day? And they aren’t primaries…it’s the real deal. The top of that ticket is the race for Wisconsin Supreme Court justice to replace the deceased N. Patrick Crooks. That race has been narrowed down to Rebecca Bradley, who has been promoted through the ranks three times in the past four years by Scott Walker (most recently to temporarily fill Crooks seat), and Joanne Kloppenburg, who is an incredibly hard-working, fair, and thoughtful judge on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals for District IV. You can guess where my vote is leaning. Oh, and Rebecca Bradley just voted in favor of essentially ending your 4th amendment rights of privacy and protection against search and seizure, even though she hadn’t yet been appointed when the court heard arguments. The vote, thanks to her tiebreaker, was 4–3.
Step 2 — But it doesn’t end there. There are important races all the way down the ballot. Perhaps you have a city council or county board election. I get to cast my vote for District 10 Outagamie County Board of Supervisors, and for that seat, I get to vote for and help elect my friend Ryan Ferguson. Do you know your candidates in all your races? I’ll bet you can find interviews in local papers or on local websites, or you can find their website or campaign Facebook page to learn more about them. If they knock on your door, answer it and find out who they are and why you should vote for them.
If you don’t think local races are important, then you don’t understand how our democracy is supposed to work. We have levels of government, and local government is the foundation for communities. Who do you think will have more of an effect on your daily life between a county board supervisor and the President. I think you would be surprised. Every level of government requires a bigger vision. So the President sets a vision for the country, a governor for their state, representatives for their districts, and so on. But typically this vision is more of a suggestion or direction; the actual implementation and effects happen at the local level. You won’t call President Obama to fix the pothole on your street. You won’t call the FBI when someone comes speeding down your road while your kids are playing outside. The Attorney General is not going to prosecute the local drug dealer. You need to vote in these elections.
Step 3 — With Spring elections finished, we’re off to the races for the elections in November. The Presidential race will be a big one. Billions of dollars will be spent. You may not see a TV commercial for an actual product at any point in October. But your ballot doesn’t end after you choose a President.
Where I live, we then get to decide between current Senator Ron Johnson and former Senator Russ Feingold. Senator Feingold is the one who crossed the aisle to enact real campaign finance reform with Republican John McCain in 2002. Unfortunately, it was squashed when SCOTUS decided that money is speech, ultimately saying that free speech is better if some people have louder voices. Johnson, on the other hand, is the Republican in the U.S. Senate who other Republicans don’t even like. He’s generally clueless on basic information, but he has a lot of money, so his voice is louder.
Step 4 — Next one down is your congressional district, which determines who represents you in the U.S. House of Representatives. Being in Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District, we’ve got a bit of excitement for this election because the Republican incumbent, Reid “The Ribbler” Ribble decided not to seek another term. The reason for the excitement is because this area of Wisconsin is considered a major swing spot in the state of Wisconsin, and a strong Democratic candidate could very well win a landslide under the right conditions. I mean, if Tom Nelson or Penny Bernard-Shaber face off against Frank Lasee, and the people of the 8th Congressional District really take the time to understand each of these candidates, it would be a Democratic blowout.
Step 5 — Definitely not done yet. In fact, I’m especially happy about the added excitement in all of the above races, because it means more people will make it this far down the ballot. I find this exciting because then they’ll see they get to vote for me for Wisconsin State Senate in District 2. I would take some time here to talk more about myself, but seriously, this is my blog and I talk about myself constantly. If you’re not sure what to think of me, there are about 3 years of ideas at your fingertips right on this blog. Or you can email me, and I’ll probably answer. I’m a pretty open book.
What I will do here, however, is put up a link for donations to my campaign, because as I pointed in another piece on my blog, we have to fight fire with fire. That means we have to have more fire. Only then will we be in any kind of position to put it out.
Other nearby races include incumbent Dave Hansen in District 30, challenger Dave Polashek in District 12, and challenger Mark Harris in District 18. Find your State Senate race and determine if your challenger needs to be hired and/or your incumbent needs to be fired.
Step 6 — State Senate in Wisconsin is only for those in even-numbered districts, as it’s a four year-term. But Wisconsin State Assembly is a two year-term, so all 99 districts are up in this election. I get to vote for Kaukauna School Board member Sam Kelly in the 5th Assembly district. While I don’t get to vote for them directly, I also get to help out some fellow Democratic challenger friends in neighboring districts, such as William Switalla in the 6th Assembly district, Bob Baker in the 55th Assembly district, and Mariana Stout in the 56th Assembly district. And I can’t forget the incumbents in the area, including Gordon Hintz in the 54th, Eric Genrich in the 90th, and Amanda Stuck in the 57th. There are more across the state, and probably more close by that I’m forgetting at the moment. I challenge any reading this to find your race and learn about your candidate(s). Don’t just listen to them say what they’re going to do, but find out how they plan to do it.
Every race is important. Every race is important. How dangerous would President Trump truly be if he has to face off with a Democratic Senate? How dangerous could Scott Walker be if he has to face a Democratic State Senate? How dangerous could he be if he has to overcome real jurisprudence on the Wisconsin Supreme Court? How dangerous could any of them be if our local government is progressive and forward-thinking? Strong communities are what make a strong country, not the other way around.
So please, stop worrying about Trump. Vote against him if you have the chance, but do not let him get so far into your head that you lose sight of the rest of our democracy. We have an incredible system that can work, but it requires us all to take part in the process. You can do that in every election by arming yourself with information, offering support to those candidates in which you truly believe, and most of all, voting. Do not get discouraged and throw your hands up because of a few broken pieces within our democracy, but rather put in the work, right now, for those that mean to mend those pieces, and help us build our communities towards reaching their potential as well-informed strongholds of good government and honest politics.
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Originally published at democratbydefault.com on February 29, 2016.
