The Banana Republic of Wisconsinia
Republicans Have Turned Wisconsin Into an Illiberal Democracy
Nothing sickens me more about politics than when one party refuses to listen to the body politic and chooses instead to obstruct, marginalize and outright disenfranchise voters in the name of holding onto power. It’s offensive and antithetical to the very idea of democracy. Elections are held to provide legislators with a sense of direction as to where the public wants government to go, and indicates who they trust with that power. When a party in control finds itself facing a backlash that then puts it in an electoral minority, sketchy methods, governmental bulwarking and partisan obstinance are often employed to maintain a now minority rule. This is offensive to everything Americans hold dear about governance. Losers don’t moderate their positions or consider policy alternatives the public wants, they instead ignore the public and obfuscate, stall, muck up government with upalling bureaucratic maneuvering and flat out attack democratic institutions to the detriment of all.
Which brings us to Wisconsin. The extent and egregiousness Wisconsin Republicans have gone to ignore the will of the voting public there rivals some Banana Republics. It was offensive when they started down this path 12 years ago. It has only become more and more offensive with each passing day. Every whack upside the head by the electorate that they don’t like this only results in further doubling down and a huge “F- You” to Wisconsin voters. It has become an ungovernable illiberal democracy, with the only thing noteworthy about it is that it is a runaway legislature fighting against the public will instead of an authoritarian strongman. Sadly, come 2024, this legislature is putting the pieces in place to hand the White House to Donald Trump.
It started in 2010 with the Tea Party wave that brought Scott Walker to power. His first priorities were to 1) Break the Teachers Union by gutting them and 2) Establishing a legislative gerrymander that is all but unbreakable electorally. Wisconsinites revolted and tried to recall Walker and numerous state legislators. Walker eked through that recall election but some legislators didn’t. You’d think that would give some elected officials pause and scale back some. Nope. Walker ran for re-election (barely winning) and decided to run for President; the Republican state legislature doubled down further and continued to expand its radical ways.
After Walker lost in 2018 to Superintendent of Schools Tony Evers, Republicans doubled down again. They removed certain powers from the control of the Executive and placed it with themselves in the State Legislature. Since they had a majority on the State Supreme Court, there really was no recourse.
Thus began political stagnation. Evers would propose something, the Republicans wouldn’t take it up. Evers would open a special session to address a particular isssue, the Legislature would gavel it closed in less than a minute.
In 2020, despite losing the statewide legislative overall vote, Republicans gerrymandered themselves an even greater majority in the legislature, practically a supermajority. The U.S. Supreme Court had already said they were going to be hands off when it comes to how states draw legislative lines, and again, Republicans still had a majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Who was going to stop them?
As it turns out, Wisconsin voters would. Fed up with the Republican intransigence in the legislature, they had already started to vote over the previous few years for more liberal justices onto the Wisconsin Supreme Court. What was once a solid majority of Republicans, a bulwark for every power-hungry, manifestly illiberal thing Republicans wanted to accomplish, the court was shifting Democratic. The final crack came earlier this year when Democrats obtained a majority on the Court, when the state of Wisconsin overwhelmingly selected (by over 11 pts in a state that is usually 50-50) the liberal Janet Protasiewicz to the Supreme Court over radical ultra-conservative Daniel Kelly.1 Like all typical Republicans these days, he refused to concede defeat and grumbled his way home a spoiled brat, believing he had been shafted instead of turned down by the vox populi.
Finally, the legislative gerrymander that has stymied good government in Wisconsin for over 12 years was as good as gone. Or was it? Turns out Wisconsin Republicans have one more atrocious trick up their sleeve. Republican legislators are planning on impeaching newly elected State Supreme Court Justice Protasiewicz before she has even heard a single case. They have a pretext for it (which is bullshit) but everyone recognizes this exactly for what it is; Republicans’ last ditch effort to hold onto their gerrymander and their power before the walls come down. But it’s even more devious than just that.
You see, if they actually remove her, the Governor can just appoint another justice, potentially someone even more liberal than Protasiewicz. That is NOT what Republicans intend to let happen. They intend to impeach her in the state assembly, essentially suspending her from hearing cases until she is either acquitted or removed in the State Senate; but they have zero intention of ever holding a vote for removal in the Senate, keeping her in a Limbo while the Court maintains a 3-3 deadlock, thus keeping the gerrymander in place.
Back in the 1990’s, journalist Fareed Zakaria coined the term “Illiberal Democracy.” It was meant to describe places where democracy technically exists but the institutions had deteriorated and party rule is so entrenched that an actual functional voter choice fails to exist. The historical example has always been South and Central American “Banana Republics” where democratic institutions had been created but functionally never took root. Over time it has become applied to established democracies backsliding into authoritarianism. Today, it can readily be applied to places like Russia, Belarus, Turkey and Hungary.
For a more local example, just look to Wisconsin and what Republicans have done to that state.
PurpleAmerica Recommended Stories
Fareeed Zakaria’s original piece “The Rise of Illiberal Democracy” from 1997 is definitely worth your time. Reading through it now, it’s frightening how descriptive it is of the times we currently live in.
For a more detailed description of what is happening in Wisconsin, Charlie Sykes’ piece walking through it is required reading.
Lastly, if you really want to understand how truly dysfunctional and mean-spirited this has become, just read Bill Leuders’ article about the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the level of hypocrisy, ridicule and animosity towards each other has been mounting since that Tea Party wave in 2010.
PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject
We’re going to give it to Fareed Zakaria. This is what he said earlier this year about Republicans, and how he hopes 2023 exposes Republican “populism, for the sham that it is.” It is so on point with what is happening in Wisconsin, I challenge everyone watch it and try to find a better description.
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Footnotes and Fun Stuff
Among the other ridiculously partisan shit this guy has done, he was also Trump’s point man in Wisconsin for his alternative Electors scheme.