Northern rural areas are not a playground, especially during a pandemic. They do not exist solely as a backdrop or a photo, or an escape from realities back home. Continue reading Rural America Isn’t Your Quaint Escape
Approval voting. It works just as it sounds: you vote for everyone you “approve” of. Your ballot looks exactly the same as it does in familiar first-past-the-post. A bunch of circles with names by them — but now, you can fill in more than one circle. That’s the only difference. We get rid of the rule of only voting for one. Continue reading Approval Voting: What Is It and How Does It Work?
On Sunday, November 1, 2020, community activists will hold a socially-distanced all-day event at Capitol Square to honor children and adults who have died at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection and for all people of color who have been killed by police. Continue reading Support Immigrants, Abolish Ice
US cultural memory seems to embrace the defeat of the South in the US Civil War as an exoneration of the North. But the North has racism baked into its core. The contemporary and historical experiences of Black Americans in the North – especially in the Great Lakes region – show how true this is. Continue reading It’s Not Just the South: Anti-Black Racism in the Great Lakes
Nada Elmikashfi’s bid for State Senate exposed the conflicts in our local political landscape, including the class conflicts that usually get papered over in Madison’s tepid electoral scene. Elmikashfi made politics political again. Continue reading The Serious Politics of the ‘People’s Candidate’ for State Senate
The difference is clear: the Madison School Board has a relationship of respect with the union, Madison Teachers Inc. and those it represents. The University of Wisconsin disdains those who work at the University and disrespects their organizations. The anti-union bias of the University places all of us in jeopardy. Continue reading The Union Difference: How Their Power and Influence Affects Everyone’s Safety
The Green Party candidates won’t appear on the ballot this fall due to bureaucratic maneuvering by the Democratic Party. This wasn’t a defense of democracy – it was an assault on voting rights. Continue reading Attack on Independent Campaign Shows that Undermining Democracy is a Bi-partisan Project
There is more information available about what took place between Ello Johnson and Monona Police on Thursday, possibly including dash cam and body cam footage. All of it needs to be made public now. Continue reading We Need to Know What Happened to Ello Johnson
First-past-the-post and “lesser evil” voting have strangled the life out of our democracy. Ranked-choice voting can help fix this. It can allow more representative candidates, more political parties to be relevant so that people can vote for what they really want. Continue reading Ranked Choice Voting: Breaking the Duality
This is just another example of how the response to COVID-19 is shaped to fit the logic of capitalism. Activities that generate profits – labor, purchasing goods and services – are approved, but people must limit the non commodified social interactions that would actually enrich their lives and sustain their mental health in order to keep conditions favorable for the profitable activities to continue. Continue reading Blaming Students for Systemic Stupidity
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