Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Cleanliness of Government: A Wisconsin Tradition, Trashed

Much has been made in recent weeks of what our illustrious freshman governor is doing to the proud Progressive tradition of Wisconsin. I have heard more than once that "Fighting Bob" ought to be rolling in his grave. But the Progressive tradition in Wisconsin was never quite as strong as lots of people would like to think it was, and I believe that part of that is because of another political tradition to come out of Wisconsin.


I'm taking about the Sewer Socialists. And I'd like to talk about sewer socialism because it has relevance to not just the policies that are being enacted, but also to the manner in which this whole mess is exploding across our great state.

The Sewer Socialists were a group out of Milwaukee, and their strongest support was always from Milwaukee and the southeastern part of the state generally. The basic idea behind their rhetoric was not the revolutionary or class-warfare aspects of socialism, but rather the idea that government could do good. Government can, and should, build sewers, provide clean water, pick up garbage, provide security and clean living conditions for its citizens. And they meant cleanliness literally: clean streets, clean water, clean schools.

The Sewer Socialists were far-left in that they sought to use tax revenues to create a better environment for all citizens. They had a basic, committed belief to the idea that government CAN and SHOULD do good. Government CAN efficiently operate those systems that make life better, and government SHOULD do this for the betterment of all. Goverrnment CAN build sewers. Government CAN provide clean water. Government CAN provide heat and power (*ahem, ahem*). Government CAN provide education. Government CAN provide security through police and fire. And government SHOULD do all these things, and should raise the necessary revenues to do so.

Additionally, government has a responsibility to make life as pleasant as possible for all its citizens. Everyone should have access to greenspaces, not just those that can afford an acreage. Hence, we have here in Milwaukee one of the best park systems in the country, and that's true of the Wiscconsin State Park system as well. Everyone deserves QUALITY education: we don't subscribe to the idea of a well-rounded education for the rich and letting everyone else barely learn to read while sharing a book that's 10 years old.

These are the basic policy issues and budget struggles we are currently facing. Does everyone deserve to have a good life, or do just the rich deserve such a luxury?

But the Sewer Socialists also arose as a reaction to basic corruption within the party system, and in particular to corruption within the Democratic Party. The Sewer Socialists in Milwaukee were at least as much a reaction to the base corruption of Chicago politics as they were to any ideological commitments. People saw what was going on Chicago and did not want it. It is primarily for this reason that the Sewer Socialists refused to work with Democrats, while Progressives occasionally did work with the party that spawned them. It was not because the policies of the Sewer Socialists and the Democrats were incompatible; nay, they were highly compatible. Rather it was because the Sewer Socialists did not want even the intimation, the barest hint of corruption, to touch them, because they understood that public trust, once lost, is devilishly difficult to regain.

The Sewer Socialists were proponents of the kind of open, clean government that we now take for granted in Wisconsin. They are at least partly responsible for the incredible open meetings laws we have here, which were violated in the passing of recent bills. The open, transparent tradition of the Sewer Socialists is directly related to the open tradition of our Capitol Building, which has lately been locked down tightly.


What is happening right now is not just a violation of the forward-looking traditions of our policies in creating roads and schools and infrastructure and parks that everyone can enjoy and that make everyone's lives better regardless of their income. It is also a violation of that openness, that conscious decision that our cities and our state would not be Chicago or Illinois. We would not operate in back-room deals, in cigar-clenching bossmen, in money under the table. We would operate in the light.

In the end, I think that the betrayal of that tradition of openness and cleanliness is the worse of the evils being committed here. And I find it almost unendurably ironic that while accusing Union bosses of holding too much power and invoking the back-room deals of Chicago poltics, Mr. Walker is engaging in exactly the same tactics he espouses to loathe, and with much greater virulence and damage.

If you want to know what the onset of corruption looks like, don't look south across a border. Look west, into the heart of our very own state. These are sad days for Wisconsin.



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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

This Is What A Union Does

Last Saturday, I went to Madison. I have been in Madison every Saturday since February 21, as well as several weekdays when my schedule allows, and I will continue to be there as often as possible as long as it's necessary.

So far, the highest level of energy in these protests has been against Governor Walker's attempt to end collective bargaining rights for public employees. He is engaged in government-sponsored, legislatively-codified union-busting, which is a horrific prospect. Any government or elected official that actively seeks to strip the rights of a group of people is not fit to use office, as they have demonstrated a propensity for egregious abuse of power.

However, that's not the point of this. The point of this is this sign that I photographed while I was in Madison last Saturday. This man managed to encapsulate a point that I think needs to be made forcefully and with gusto. A variation of it is the idea (that I cannot remember where I first read) that conservatives have managed to make the question that everyone asks, "Why does that guy get what I don't?" And the job of progressives is to make people start to ask, instead, "How do I get what that guy has?"

I have seen it typed and heard it said by many, many people recently that teachers have ridiculously generous benefit packages. The implication is that teachers don't deserve them, and there's always some add-on to the effect that the speaker doesn't get a pension and has been paying for all their healthcare for years. It is true that teachers, like firefighters, policemen, unionized electricians and unionized auto workers and a whole host of other professions do have (comparatively) better benefit packages than non-unionized electricians, autoworkers, teachers, retail clerks and administrative professionals.

This is not because all of these unionized professions are overpaid, or because they are leeches on society, or because they don't deserve healthcare and pensions. The fact is EVERYONE deserves these things. We all deserve to get decent healthcare coverage that doesn't cost us everything out of pocket. We all deserve some guarantees of financial security in our old age. Why do teachers, police, firefighters, unionized electricians, et al. still have them, when 60 years ago everyone did?

And make no mistake, 60 years ago, these benefits were common. They were expected. They were part and parcel of having a job.

Teachers and electricians and auto workers still have this things because they have a UNION. Because when management or some fatcat said, "You have to accept this or we're all going bankrupt" they had an organization and a mechanism to say, "We'll do what's necessary, but we're not going to simply take your word for what's necessary. We want to see the books; we want to be sure that you're not screwing us merely to advance your own position."

Honestly, ask yourself: do you trust a corporation to have only your interests in mind? Do you trust a corporation or a government to ask for only what is absolutely necessary and never pad their bottom line or try to keep a little on the side for personal gain or pet projects? Really? You trust your boss to sacrifice as much as you when times are tough? If so, you are a far, far better and more trusting person than me. I certainly don't afford anyone that level of trust over my financial standing and future.

This is what a union DOES. It gives you that power, the power to know for certain that what you're giving up is necessary and that you're only giving up what is necessary and that you're not the only one giving something up.

That is the power each of us could have, if we all organized. And if we were all organized, the benefit packages that teachers and police and all the rest enjoy wouldn't seem exorbitant, because we all would have them. We would not have been forced to give them up over the course of the last 50 years, because someone at the table would have been looking out for our interests.

You would still have a pension. You would not be paying for every penny of your healthcare, simply because someone told you it was "necessary."

The question should never be "How can I take away what that person has?" It should always be, "How can I get what that person has, too?" There is enough to go around. We can all have what is fair. We can all have what we deserve.



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