More democracy is the way to save democracy, or as Obama, said:
Don’t believe it? Read this thread by Ben Wikler, Chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party:
Usually I post my own threads here, but this time I want to share with you the story of what happened in Wisconsin, as only Ben Wikler can tell it.
It’s a harrowing story of a minority party trying desperately to hold onto power through undemocratic means. It’s the story of how the GOP pulled from its bag of tricks every voter suppression trick it knew.
When you read the thread, you’ll see that the courts ruled against the Democrats and forced people to unnecessarily risk their lives at the polls. The GOP evidently hoped to suppress turnout because their candidate was the incumbent and better known, and they thought this would help their candidate.
Trump threw his weight behind the GOP candidate.
It looked bad for the Democrats. But the underhanded and undemocratic tactics didn’t work. Democracy won.
“We won not despite our principles, but because of them,” says Ben Wikler.
Wisconsin democrats didn’t fight fire with fire. They didn’t win by adopting GOP hardball tactics. They didn’t try to act like Republicans.
They won by organizing and going to the polls.
Yes, they risked infection and perhaps death—which they should never have had to do. The alternative (as you’ll understand when you read Ben’s story) would have been to hand power to the GOP in Wisconsin for another decade, could have had dire consequences nationwide, including helping Trump’s reelection and the 2021 redistricting would could have kept the gerrymandering in place.
Wisconsin made its choice.
You know who else put their lives on the line? The soldiers who fought a Revolutionary War because they didn’t want to be ruled by a king. The soldiers who fought to end slavery. The soldiers who fought to stop the murderous Nazi regime.
Put Wisconsin voters in that group. They are heroes.
The GOP attempt to keep voters at home by forcing them to risk their lives to vote backfired spectacularly on the GOP.
The lesson? Start organizing now. Start NOW helping people to get their absentee ballots (29 states and D.C. allow no excuses absentee voting).
Thank you Wisconsin Democrats for showing us how.
Here’s Ben’s thread again:
(I hope Ben’s two year old decided to sleep in; Ben deserved a deep rest)
