Ah, the grass roots.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Anyone who has converted a patch of lawn to a garden knows the strength and tenacity of grass roots. I fight back the grass roots in my gardens, but in real life, I’m part of a grass roots effort to get like-minded people elected to public office.

Yesterday a young person came to our door. He was carrying a clipboard, so I thought “Aha. Canvassing. I wonder which candidate he represents?” I sent Chuck to the door; it was his turn, really. The last time I met a canvasser on my porch, our Wisconsin presidential primary was coming up and the young woman was supporting Bernie Sanders. We talked for a little while, and I reminisced a bit about volunteering in support of President Obama in 2008 and 2012. Then I turned the topic a little bit, bringing it back to the current election. I hear you, readers. You’re thinking, “What? Daisy, the young volunteer on the porch was the one doing the canvassing, wasn’t she? What do you mean you turned the topic? That was her job!” 

Yep. Uh-huh. Yours truly has had plenty of training and practice in messaging, staying on message, and bringing a conversation to an angle that benefits my candidate or my cause. By the time the young woman left my porch, making her entries into the database on her phone (new wrinkle this election), I had talked her into supporting Hillary Clinton. She was probably wondering, “What just happened there?”

Back to the most recent clipboard bearing youth at our doorbell. Chuck chatted for a few seconds and then sent the young man on his way. He wasn’t canvassing for a candidate, Democrat or Republican. He represented College Painters. We’re planning siding, so we didn’t hire him or his organization. I guess the lesson learned from this encounter is Never Assume Anything.

I still would have worked on convincing him to vote for Hillary.

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Bias in the Political World

It’s no surprise when a poll is skewed to one side. Left or right, many pollsters are hired to do just that – make the poll turn out for the candidate, no matter what.

It was a “suggested post” because I don’t follow the guy. Senator Ron Johnson’s headline said, “Wisconsin Values; take the survey.” His comment added, “We want to know what you think!”

Really, RonJohn? I don’t think you truly want to know what this ecology-minded, frugal, progressive blogger and public school teacher actually thinks.

What the heck, I clicked on the link. I was not surprised.  Here’s an example, along with my answers – and my reactions.

  1. What do you think is the biggest issue facing Wisconsinites today? I responded: Education – K-12 and post high school. Budget cutting is devastating to students at all levels. Invest in education; it pays in the long run.
  2. What should be Ron’s priority in 2016? This question offered me several choices, none of which appealed to me. I attempted to click “Other” and type in “Address Climate Change.” My answer disappeared when I tried to submit. I guess he only wanted to hear one of the following.
    • Creating Jobs
    • Other
  3. How important is securing our borders to you? Important, Unimportant, Undecided – what kind of a choice is that? Give me a chance to click Other, and I’ll tell you that “securing” the border is a myth and a misleading statement because immigration is a complicated issue.
  4. Has President Obama done enough to improve Veterans’ care and services? Again, Yes, No, Undecided. Work with me here, Ronny. How about giving me a blank where I can ask “Has the Senate cooperated with President Obama to improve Veterans’ care and services?” Hah. Answer that honestly, if you dare.
  5. How can you help Ron spread his conservative message across Wisconsin? Oh, readers, the nerve of the man. Wisconsin values survey, indeed. He just wants to recruit donors and volunteers. Look at these choices. 
    • Door Knocking
    • Phone Banking
    • Write a Letter to the Editor
    • Host an event for Ron
    • Invite Ron to Your Community
    • Display a Yard Sign
  6. And last, the survey asks for (required) email, name, and zip code. The zip code would verify that I live in Wisconsin. My name – I don’t want my name on any kind of list connected to this science denying, stubborn, narrow minded politician.
  7. Let’s see now. Based on this survey, the Senator doesn’t really want to know what I think and which Wisconsin progressive values I favor. Fortunately, my personal policy is to avoid online petitions and the like. Next time I communicate with the tall blonde guy from Oshkosh, it’ll either be a phone call regarding my progressive point of view or it’ll be my vote. And that, my friends, will show MY Wisconsin values.

As seen on Jeopardy:

Who is Russ Feingold, of course.

Who is Russ Feingold, of course. Campaign finance reform – now that’s a reflection of Wisconsin values.

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Voter ID – The True Purpose Revealed

Glen Grothman (Republican in Wisconsin’s State Senate) said it out loud and into a microphone. When asked how he thought a Republican could win Wisconsin in the general election when such an event hasn’t happened since 1984, he responded, “…now we have photo ID, and I think photo ID is going to make a little bit of a difference.”

Voters now need to present a photo ID at the polls every time they vote. Drivers’ licenses, passports, military IDs – easy, right?

Wrong.

Let’s take Amigo for example. He’s blind; he doesn’t drive. He has a state photo ID because he had access to the documentation he needed and he had someone to drive him to the DMV to get it. When he lost his wallet at a school reunion, he was able to replace that ID at the DMV. It was a bother, but he had a ride (me) and someone to fill out the form for him (also me).

Not everyone has the advantages that Amigo does. He also votes in his home city, so the address on his ID is current. Take college students, for example. The liberal arts university in my fair city’s downtown had long, long lines last week. Long, long lines that meant waits of more than an hour. One reason: These college students moved annually, so their campus addresses changed. Another reason: the poll workers were stymied by the college IDs, identification that didn’t have addresses or dates on them.

In general, high voter turnout often favors Democrats. When the Republicans controlling our state government introduced and passed the law requiring photo ID at the polls, we progressives complained, and loudly. We knew, just KNEW that the goal was to make voting more difficult. We could tell this law wasn’t intended to combat fraud, but intended to keep more voters away from the polls. The right wing denied it over and over and over. And then Grothman went oops. He admitted publicly that he thought Voter ID would give the GOP an advantage over the progressives and Democrats so popular in our grand old state.

What’s next? Registration tests? Gerrymandered districts? Oh, wait, that’s already happening. More important, readers: what do we do next?

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Apathy; We can’t afford to go there.

“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”
-Jane Goodall
“Stopping Trump is the short term solution.The long-term solution – and it will be more difficult – is fixing the educational system that has created so many people ignorant enough to vote for Trump.” – Andy Borowitz
In Daisy language, the first quote tells me, “Get up and speak up. Do more than just vote; make sure others are getting to the polls. Get up off the couch and go make a difference. Get back into the volunteer circuit and do something to get a strong, decent, candidate on the way to becoming a strong, decent president.”
The second quote is more difficult. As I read between the lines, I see an indictment of today’s public education system, and I’m part of that system. So how do I address Andy Borowitz when he says the educational system is creating (infer: graduating) ignorant people?
Maybe I don’t need to address Andy. I know our public educational system has limitations. It’s not perfect by a long shot. One of the downfalls comes in the concept that public schools educate everybody; rich or poor, smart or not-so-smart, eager or apathetic learners.
And yet – and yet – that’s what makes our educational system unique. We educate everyone. One of the best lessons we can teach is that: everyone deserves an education.
The tougher lesson to teach, the one Borowitz suggests, is fighting ignorance. To root out ignorance, we (educators and families and whole villages) need to teach high level thinking skills. We need to teach our students to read, to analyze, and to form conclusions. With that in mind, I’ll pull up the late George Carlin. He’s the one who said, “Don’t just teach your children to read…Teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything.”
It’s in the questions that we’ll find answers. It’s in the questioning that we’ll find thoughtful, insightful voters. When those analytical, thinking voters get going, we’ll see an intelligent, analytical, thoughtful, insightful, candidate become an intelligent, analytical, thoughtful, insightful president.

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Election on the way: Paranoia Sets In

Maybe it’s Trump. Maybe it’s the dystopian novels I read so often. My inner paranoid streak or doomsday prepper is begging to get out and take action.

Here’s an example. Trump claimed today that if he carries Wisconsin in the primary, he’ll go to a Packer game in the fall. Does he have any idea how hard it is to get tickets? Or how long the waiting list is for season tickets? Never mind. Don’t answer that.

Our primary election is next week Tuesday. The airwaves are full of campaign ads. The one that makes me slap my forehead and shout “Doh!” is Ted Cruz’ commercial that announces he is the only one who can beat Trump. “Do the math!” the announcer demands while showing a bar graph. Frankly,  the best candidate to beat Donny Boy isn’t on the same primary ticket. Do the math? Someone forgot a variable.

I spent a bundle to restock our medicine cabinet with supplies for spring allergy season. It was costly. It would be more costly if I hadn’t stocked up and had needed a last-minute run to the store. By planning ahead, I was able to use two coupons and buy generic store brands. When all the allergic folks start breaking out in sneezes and wheezes, the shelves will be empty except for the expensive varieties.

I’ve used up the corn in the freezer. If we want corn, we’ll have to buy it from the store. We have one container of peas left, and several of beans (green and yellow). We salvaged the last two squash from the basement and noted that next year we need to cook them sooner, not later. I guess the vegetable of choice for the time being will be beans. As the summer arrives, I’ll put up more corn, an equal amount of peas, and beans? Let me think about it.

Meanwhile, I’m hearing about schools getting budgets zapped, stripped to the bone. Layoffs are rampant. My job is fairly secure, at least for the time being. I just did a promo for open enrollment a few days ago. Maybe it’ll help keep our enrollment up.

But when I go in to vote on Tuesday, I’ll have all of these issues on my mind – and more. All politics may be local, and it’s also personal. Very personal. Do I need to stock up on toilet paper? Build a chicken coop? Hide my retirement fund in a mattress?

Readers, help me silence my inner doomsday siren. Promise me you’ll do the most important prep of all: you’ll vote.

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Ignore the Donald, and he’ll go away. Not.

For a long stretch I tried to avoid blogging about Donald Trump. He thrives on attention, positive or negative, and I vowed I wouldn’t give him what he wants. Ignoring attention-getting behavior is a natural for teachers. I thought it would be effective in the political arena, too.

But ignoring the behavior in the hopes that it would go away doesn’t always work. Sometimes, without additional strategies, behavior worsens when ignored. That’s what’s happened here – until recently.

As long as he was getting away with it, Trump continued to spout his hateful rhetoric. He encouraged his followers to “knock the crap out of” anyone who might throw a tomato at a rally. If his followers got arrested, he promised to pay their legal fees. Trump also said he wanted to “punch (a reporter) in the face”.

Protesters in Chicago decided that ignoring Trump’s behavior wasn’t working, so they gathered in the streets. And gathered peacefully, too. These people didn’t fight violence with violence; they showed they didn’t support Trump’s bigotry by exercising their right to peaceably assemble. And when the man himself decided not to appear, the tens of thousands cheered.

It’s time, people. It’s time to recognize that this man is dangerous and his bigotry and bias are not going away unless we take action. We need to speak up and let the nation and the world know that this man’s behavior is not acceptable. His hate speech is not acceptable. His violent attitude is not acceptable.

And we’re not going to ignore the Donald’s behavior anymore.

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I’ll hold my vote until I turn blue!

Mixing metaphors again, figuratively speaking. I’m really looking at you, Republican senators. I include Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson in that mess, too. The stubborn response, no, pre-response, is ridiculous. Dig your heels in if you must, but don’t complain when your shoes get muddy. And if you insist on holding your breath until you turn blue, make sure there’s a pillow nearby when you collapse.

President Obama has filled his Constitutional responsibility. He has nominated a candidate to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are pulling out their childish act again. The folks on the far right side in D.C. would like to refuse any candidate the President suggests. In fact, they plan to prevent this nominee from getting approved for the court by stalling. Standing still. Refusing to convene the committee that will interview, question, and eventually confirm or deny the nominee’s placement in the all-important judicial branch of the three ring circus that Washington has become.

Those on the right would like to postpone this appointment until after the next president is inaugurated. This way, they figure, they can elect a president of their choice and that president will nominate someone who leans right, far right.

Unfortunately for the tea party side, the president has precedent on which to act. Filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court in the last year of a presidency is rare, but not unheard of. Here’s a breakdown.

  • In 1912, Taft nominated Mahlon Pitney.
  • In 1932, Hoover nominated Benjamin Cardozo.
  • In 1968, Johnson nominated once, twice, and then saw Earl Warren decide to postpone his retirement. That time, the situation was complicated.

Three times – not a huge number, but as these were the only three occasions in more than a century of presidencies, these three times set a significant precedent.

For the sake of unity, for the sake of cooperation, it’s time to get to work. If those on the rightest of right need a reason to let out their collective breath and move to the center for a little while, here’s one. Just think “What will Hillary do?”

Thanks to Politifact.com for providing the history behind the precedent.

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Has the calendar regressed? This state senator has.

Chuck and I helped the local arts community by writing a column for the newspaper about Amigo and the barbershop chorus in which he sings. He enjoys rehearsals, thrives on the music, and gets totally psyched up for the performances. We were happy to support them with our column.

The piece apparently got picked up in a Madison newspaper. How do we know? Well, Chuck got a card from the guy who represents our district in the State Senate. We’ll call him Senator Throwback. The card enclosed a copy of our column, and carried a message that said “Saw this in the paper and thought you might like a copy.”

Nice, right? Maybe thoughtful? Politically expedient, too, eh? Almost. It’s likely that one of Senator Throwback’s staff pointed out the article and took the time to find our address, and on and on. We know that. But anyway, how did something that insignificant make the blog?

We co-wrote the article. Both of our names and both of our pictures accompanied the piece. We wrote it together. Senator Throwback addressed the article to Chuck and only Chuck. In his eyes, evidently I don’t exist.

Make no mistake, folks: this omission counts. By leaving one author, the female author, off the note, Senator Throwback made it clear that I do not exist for him. That’s too bad for him, though, because he’s forgotten one very important point: my vote counts exactly the same as Chuck’s does. And Senator Throwback isn’t likely to get mine next election.

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Chicago dumps Trump

It was an ordinary Friday night, for the most part. I was visiting La Petite, and we were settling down on her couch to relax and chat and check on the rest of the family via Facebook.

It’ll be no surprise to readers that many of my relatives are rather progressive in their politics. We knew that the candidate I like to call He Who Shall Not Be Named (in lieu of giving him any more blog space) was in Chicago for a rally, and many a protest was planned. Upon further review, we found that we had a family member at a rally outside the arena where You-Know-Who was scheduled to speak. Here’s her viewpoint.

Anti Trump Rally

So proud to have been there to turn the Trump Tide. UIC students meant what they said and put feet to their thoughts. Whatever happened inside the pavilion, I don’t know, but the outside activity was 100% peaceful with appropriate Chicago police presence. This is what democracy and freedom of speech looks like. – from one who was there, 3-12-2016

The result: the speech was cancelled. You-Know-Who was advised not to appear for fear of inciting violence. He acquiesced. Meanwhile, those outside cheered at the news. Again, people, from one who was there: 100% peaceful, with appropriate Chicago police presence. Peacefully, they managed to shut the guy down.

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