David Michael Miller
A consistent theme I hear from Democrats is that they are unenthusiastic about their choices for governor. They want inspiration and they’re just not finding it in the crop of nine serious contenders plus a few fringe candidates.
While it’s true that nobody has gotten out of the gate in a sprint, it’s early and there is still time for one or more candidates to catch fire.
But let’s ask ourselves what it is about inspiration that we find so inspiring in the first place. After all, former Gov. Jim Doyle had little charisma. All he did was win elections. And the winning Democratic candidates in the Virginia governor’s race and the Alabama senate race will not be confused with a Kennedy brother. Most recently and closer to home, the surprising Democratic winner in the special election to fill a vacant state senate seat in northwest Wisconsin, Patty Schachtner, presented herself as everybody’s mom, if everybody’s mom also hunted bear.
My point is that charisma is overrated. If the Democrats just want to win they shouldn’t worry about inspiration; they should focus on electability in a general election.
When I pitched this column to my editor, she asked me to get off the usual horse race analysis and focus instead on actual qualifications for governor. I was appalled at her suggestion. Had the lessons of the last couple of years been completely lost on her? Had she been spending the last 12 months on Fantasy Island?
Donald Trump has made me a cynic. Well, more so than I was to begin with. The most qualified candidate for president in recent history was defeated by the most qualified candidate for Lunatic of the Year. We’re clearly in a post-merit political environment.
Nonetheless, let us ascend into the rarefied air where we actually pause to consider not just how a candidate for governor can win, but what we should be looking for in the way of, you know, actual governance.
Our state faces a whole lot of serious problems. For one thing, we’re part of a region that is undervalued and overlooked while it is flown over by movers and shakers from the coasts. We’re also home to an aging population, our economy is too dependent on manufacturing, and our climate is, well, disadvantageous.
And those are just the fundamentals. Never mind the mess the current administration has made of our state: long-term cuts in education and infrastructure of all kinds; degradation of our prized natural resources; 19th century social policies; desperate, record-setting giveaways of our tax dollars to corporations that don’t need them and on and on.
But I wouldn’t say that any of those are the top issues facing our next governor. Moreover, the differences among Democratic candidates on any one of those issues are likely to be wafer thin.
The biggest problem facing our state and our country is the deterioration in the norms of political conduct, so I’m looking for candidates who can restore them.
When our democracy is working well a majority does get to rule; but under the informal rules of practical politics, they pay some respect to the minority, if only because they hope to be treated in kind when the tables are reversed.
But under Trump and Walker there is no attention paid to the minority, even when, in the case of Trump, he lost the popular vote. They act as if their narrow victories represent a mandate for sweeping, radical change. Republicans in the state Legislature, urged on by Walker, violated legislative rules to push Act 10 to a vote. Republicans in Congress, in cahoots with Trump, forced through massive tax cuts for the rich without so much as a public hearing. And those are only the most egregious examples.
So, what I’m looking for in the next governor is someone who credibly promises to reestablish the norms of our democracy and the respect for law over personal agendas and grudges. That means respecting the other side and trying to compromise and accommodate their legitimate concerns whenever you can.
And if I could descend for a moment back into base politics, it also might help a candidate win an election. Walker is already setting himself up as the candidate of hope in contrast to irate Democrats. A recent Walker campaign press release claimed that he would “counter Democrat anger with optimism and organization.”
This probably puts me out of step with the majority of the Democratic base right now. They are angry and many are looking for a candidate who mirrors their outrage and promises to return all the favors Republicans have visited upon their side for the last eight years.
But what would inspire me is someone who promised not just to reverse the policies of this administration, but who also promised to turn down the anger. Trump and Walker have turned me into a cynic. I would be inspired by someone who could rekindle my idealism.
