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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