Why Not You?
(From Union Labor News, December 2017 You can follow Union Labor News on Facebook.)
It’s time for workers to run for office. Someone like you would be best.
Why? Because the culture wars are soon going to wrap up and we are going to need some common sense candidates with a track record of good judgment, friendliness, hard work, and community participation.
The Republican candidate for governor of Virginia embraced the Trump cultural agenda of division, distrust and dysfunction and was thoroughly trounced in a state that regularly elects Republicans. One of his main election issues was the fate of statues left over from a war that ended 152 years ago. That’s about as far away from the needs of working people as you can get.
If you look beyond the governor’s race in Virginia to the other races, you’ll find an even more powerful story. Many new progressive citizens, focused on real issues, decided to run for office and, to everyone’s surprise, won enough seats to be on the verge of recapturing the House of Delegates, overcoming what was thought to be insurmountable gerrymandering.
Here in Wisconsin, people are also sick and tired of having their schools trashed, their crumbling roads and bridges ignored, and their health care threatened while those in power dodge responsibility with fake issues and partisan attacks.
That’s where you come in. Have you looked at the race for Paul Ryan’s Congressional seat? A helmet-wearing worker named Randy Bryce from Ironworkers Local 8 is waging a spirited uphill battle to take down the Speaker of the House, a politician who is also seriously out of touch with real people.
It’s time for Wisconsin to emulate Virginia and raise an army of citizen-office seekers, determined to work for the common good.
Make no mistake, it’s not going to be easy for you after you take out those election papers. Those with a vested interest in such things as giant tax cuts for the rich will still have plenty of money to run negative campaigns on divisive issues. But they are running away from traditional American values and their day will soon be done.
There are 72 counties in Wisconsin. Many of them have gone Republican in recent elections. But lots of Republican voters there have become increasingly disgusted watching their national party become more identified with white supremacists, pedophiles, and science obstruction than actually getting anything done.
Workers need solid, tax-paying, common-sense candidates to run all over the state.
Someone like you.
Contact Emerge Wisconsin (emergewi.org) or Wisconsin Progress (wisconsinprogress.org) to get started.