David Michael Miller
As a result of last week’s elections, there is a real threat to our faith in our democratic institutions.
The problem is a dramatic disconnect between where at least half or more Americans stand on important issues and the positions taken by our elected representatives.
There is a growing public liberal consensus on such issues as immigration, reproductive rights, climate change and gun safety. Six in 10 Americans oppose Donald Trump's positions on mass deportations and building a border wall with Mexico. Fifty-six percent of Americans say that abortion should remain legal. Almost two-thirds of us say that we're worried about climate change. And more than 90 percent of Americans favor expanding background checks to buy a gun .
Yet, we’ve elected leaders whose positions on these issues are not just different, but radically different, from the public consensus.
At the national level, Hillary Clinton actually narrowly won the popular vote for president, yet Republicans now control the presidency and both houses of Congress, and they will control the U.S. Supreme Court. This could result in a crackdown on immigration, a curtailing of reproductive rights, a reversal of progress on climate change and ever more liberal gun laws.
In Wisconsin, Clinton lost the state by only 27,000 votes or just about one percent, and yet Republicans control the governor’s office and the state Supreme Court, and they’ve actually increased their majorities in the state Senate and Assembly. These majorities in particular are striking for how out of balance they are with the purple nature of our state. Pending a recount that could make their majority even stronger, Republicans now hold a 20-13 advantage in the state Senate and a 64-35 lead in the Assembly.
Here’s a graphic way to look at the Wisconsin situation:
The explanation is pretty simple. The Democrats lost the wrong election. When they were swept out in 2010 that meant that Republicans could draw new legislative district boundaries after that year’s census. With no checks and balances in a government they controlled from top to bottom, and with the latest in sophisticated technology to help them draw the lines, they were brutally effective in locking in lots of comfortable GOP districts while penning up Democratic voters into dense blue ghettos.
It doesn’t help that folks who tend to vote Democratic bring with them a desire for stronger community ties and a tolerance, if not an outright desire for greater diversity. That causes them to pick dense, urban areas to live in while Republicans tend to favor large-lot developments. So, it just becomes much easier to bunch Democrats and to spread out Republicans more strategically.
Still, a majority that cared about our democratic institutions would tread lightly on the idea of a mandate. They might recognize that their overwhelming numbers don’t match the real desires of state residents. But, at least until now, these are not the kind of Republicans who would think that way. The party has become captive to extremists, many of whom literally believe that God has sent them to Madison on a mission to cut taxes for the wealthy, ruin the environment, destroy unions and on and on.
But maybe that’s changing. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Burlington) struck a surprisingly moderate tone in a post-election press conference where he talked about restoring at least some of the deep cuts made to K-12 and higher education. Funding for roads and other transportation modes is also on the agenda, and that doesn’t appear to be headed for any kind of strong ideological solution. In fact, it’s possible that Democrats could be asked to the table if transportation tax increases are within reach. Let’s just hope they demand something good in exchange for their votes.
It’s possible that, after being in power for two complete terms, Republicans are just running out of horrible ideas. It’s possible that, with such overwhelming numbers the extreme parts of their caucuses have lost clout because their votes aren’t necessarily needed. It’s also possible that leaders like Vos, with higher ambitions of their own, see these narrow statewide elections and conclude that the middle is where the votes might be.
We’ll see how things play out as the legislative session gets underway early next year. What’s clear is that there is no mandate for right-wing extremism.
