What do Wisconsin Voters Want? R-E-S-P-E-C-T

It seems the New York Times editorial page has become an expert on how the people of Wisconsin think and vote: we’re weak-minded Midwesterners. Of course in good professional fashion the Times put it in a more sophisticated manner than my plain Midwestern speech. Specifically, the paper believes Ron Johnson is leading in the polls due to:

• The public’s lack of attention to detail.
• The misinformation and simplistic solutions propounded by talk radio.
• Wisconsin has become “like other Midwestern states” (what exactly do you think of the other Midwestern states Mr. New York Times?).

Ironically it is the very assumptions present in the editorial which is leading so many citizens of Wisconsin to abandon Russ Feingold in an election which has been effectively nationalized. Russ is victim less to the talk radio or an ignorant population but rather a national progressive movement which seems Hell bent on insulting large portions of America on a regular basis. Whether it is Congressman Grayson of California implying that there is no difference between traditional Christians and the Taliban in a re-election ad or the dismissal of deficit concerns by waiving Pay-Go legislation thirty-one times since it was passed in 2007, middle-America knows when its person and values are being taken for granted and pushes back.

It would appear the height of hypocrisy when a progressive movement which claims to stand for importance of individual rights to be so blatantly dismissive of swing voters for exercising the very right upon which the nation is founded: the right to exercise independence at the ballot box. The criticisms of Wisconsin’s leaning toward Ron Johnson arise from districts and states which, for the most part, have not seen a competitive race in decades. Having been effectively trapped by a slavish commitment to one party where November elections are decided by capturing the power of a party machine in the run-up to a primary or caucus, the same people who forget that there are baseball teams outside New York and Boston also appear speechless that an independent people might make a statement to the nation’s leadership through the only means open to them: the exercise of the ballot. The New York Times is right to ask why Wisconsin is leaning Republican. It is arrogant to lean on thinly veiled stereotypes of “the Midwest.”

The course toward restoring Midwest Progressivism will not be found in attacking the electorate or culture of the Midwest. It will be found by offering the minimum of respect to the cultures and values of the Midwest which grow along side and contribute to progressive ideals in our political eco-system. When a progressive in Florida calls an opponent “Taliban” in a very misleading ad, it hurts Russ Feingold in Wisconsin. It is our literal-minded Christianity which leads some of us to support many a Progressive initiative, perhaps other progressives should learn to be tolerant of that? When a national paper like the New York Times portrays voters who are swinging toward Ron Johnson as nothing but nodding Ditto heads, it re-enforces the narrative that the leadership of the progressive movement on the coasts does not understand Middle America frustration. It is difficult for a Democrat in middle America to defend how the progressive movement is “for us” when an editorialist, supposedly trying to sway minds in a progressive direction, can causally say things like “and become more like other Midwestern states” as if that is a bad thing.

I will vote for Russ Feingold on November 2^nd because I think he is the better of the two candidates. Progressives in the Public Sphere, however, make it next to impossible for me to articulate a convincing argument to that effect to my neighbors. For the most part they don’t dislike Russ or think Ron is the bee’s knees. They quite rightly feel the disdain of a national media and political leadership who looks down upon them as ignorant imbeciles. Their only way to resist or speak against being treated in such a manner is to vote against Russ Feingold. Russ may not be to blame but he bears the consequence.

The New York Times knows little of the Wisconsin electorate. Luckily if its editorialists want to know why Wisconsin may not return Russ Feingold to Washington they do not need to be. In the age of a nationalized media they need only look at how they are reflected and spoken of by the nation’s progressive leadership and on their own pages. The swing-voter in Wisconsin is only acting like a people who insist on being treated with respect and dignity. What could be more American than that?