Different solution needed
Re: “Our civics duty” (10/24/2019): We appreciated the cover story last week. Lack of civic engagement is a huge problem, but the root cause isn’t because students don’t have a class for it, and the solution won’t come from burdening our overworked educators.
The real reason why Americans aren’t involved and are ignorant of our political process is because the system is designed to make them feel powerless. When our communities get angry at unresponsive politicians trying to gut our healthcare system and lock up black and brown communities, we’re told, “don’t boo; vote.” But trusting our institutions and systems got us to where we are today: a system beholden to wealthy people and institutions.
How do we get people involved to fix our broken political system? We organize. We listen to each other’s problems, and start imagining what needs to change to fix those problems. Then we don’t ask, we demand that they’re fixed. The only thing that can beat endless money is people power.
This works — look at the Chicago Teachers Union, or Freedom Inc. fighting for racial justice in schools. Democratic Socialists of America’s membership has exploded with new members wanting to fight for a better future. Join us.
— Ted Glomski, co-chair of Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America
Ammunition for the GOP
Re: “Citizen Dave: Can disaster be avoided?” (10/23/2019): And people wonder why the public generally supports center left policy but we wind up with conservatives in power.
I have not decided who I am going to support in the primary yet. But I can guarantee you that I am not going to look favorably on candidates or their supporters who spend all their time telling me what’s wrong with other candidates and their policies rather than telling me what’s right with their own. The kind of sniping personal attacks displayed in this piece only serves to give ammunition to the Republican noise machine.
— Paul Sherman, via email
First, it’s 2019. It’s not 1968. Do try to keep up. All elections are different, and the times are very different.
You openly and regularly oppose progressivism and liberalism in favor of centrism.
Please, Dave, explain what principles and value systems centrists use to arrive at these so-called “centrist positions.” How does your ideology work, how do you filter out what you support and what you oppose?
I think it’s the opposite of a value system, entirely obsessed with self-promotion. And in splitting the difference. It’s also a largely failed electoral strategy.
— Andy Olsen, via isthmus.com
Corrections: In last week’s cover story, “Our civics duty,” student Cory Forbes’ first name was misspelled, and the DPI’s Kristen McDaniel formerly worked as a teacher in Fort Atkinson, not McFarland. And an item in Madweek on The Winnebago should have said that the east-side club’s name was offensive to some, not all, Ho-Chunk and other Indigenous people.
