Wisconsin’s elected officials need to put themselves on the line

Around the country, local and state elected officials, as well as some candidates for local or state office, have been putting themselves in harm’s way to protest and peacefully obstruct the Trump regime’s rapid consolidation of power. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has been arrested twice, along with other NYC and New York State legislators, at a Manhattan federal building where ICE detains people after masked agents kidnap them from court. Kat Abughazaleh, running for Congress in Illinois’ 9th House District, has repeatedly shown up to protests outside an ICE facility near Chicago, where agents have repeatedly assaulted her. Federal goons tackled and handcuffed California Senator Alex Padilla in June for merely trying to ask questions of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a press conference. 

These stories are sickening and heartening in equal measure. There aren’t enough of them. No one in a functioning, free society should have to take the risks people like Lander are taking. Voters don’t have a right to ask them to, not really. Elected officials are supposed to be doing all kinds of other stuff, things that voters do have a right to demand of them. Republicans had no right to put us in this dangerous position in the first place. But they did, and here we are. Elected officials at every level in this country must be willing to act as human shields for their constituents. Desperate as the situation is, elected officials have visibility and resources to put themselves in a better position (if only slightly) to bear the risks of protest and civil disobedience.

If you’re a City of Madison Alder, a Dane County Supervisor, Wisconsin state legislator, or member of Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation, this means you. This especially applies if you’ve packed yourself into the clown car of mediocrities running for the Democratic gubernatorial nod. (Granted, I don’t think Francesca Hong needs much of an extra push to do the right thing, though I am friendly with her so of course I would say that. Brett Hulsey is exempt from this because things tend to get weird when he shows up.) Same if your elected position is largely a ceremonial relic like Secretary of State or Lieutenant Governor. Even if your politics actually kind of stink and even if we don’t all like each other, well, we need each other.

What does this look like in practice? I can’t dictate tactics or tell anyone else what level of risk they should be willing to accept. (I’m not one for pearl-clutching over civility but most people probably shouldn’t do illegal or violent shit, for the simple reason that it’s dangerous and that not everyone has that skill set, so to speak.) Start by taking cues from your constituents, from people who already have experience organizing on the front lines of social movements, from people who need help right now. When you see injustice happening, get in the way.

And for those in the Legislature, figure out what you can do to hinder the GOP majority from functioning. “Bipartisan cooperation” has been misguided for a long time, and now it’s just plain obscene. Republicans have no right to govern, anywhere, at any level. They have forfeited that right so many times over in both state and federal contexts. Since 2011, legislative Republicans have effectively deprived anyone outside of their districts of their right to elected representation in the state Capitol. Thanks to the magic of gerrymandering, they’ve spared themselves the bother of representing a lot of people in their districts, too. The 2018 lame-duck laws, their dangerous COVID-era gamesmanship, their participation in the plot to steal the 2020 Presidential election, their ongoing embrace of a President who staged a violent coup attempt—we could talk until the end of time about all the ways Wisconsin Republicans have spat on the consent of the governed.

When a party criminalizes dissent so openly and blatantly, it has acknowledged that it has no legitimacy. Every Republican in government, anywhere in this country, has got to go, and everything should grind to a halt until that happens. Our state and local elected officials can play a small but meaningful part in making that happen. 

People who know the guts of the Legislature will have to sort the details. All I know is that they’re not helpless. Procedural obstruction, occupying Robin Vos’ office, I dunno. Throw some stuff at the wall. Yes, such antics are risky. You might not be back in office next year. We might all be at a black site next year, even if we act nice. We don’t even know if we’ll have free and fair elections in 2026. We know Republicans will try to cling to power regardless of how or whether people vote. No reason to hold onto a burning playbook.

Elected officials aren’t really any safer than the rest of us at this point. We know better, because the proof is horrific. Plenty of local and state electeds (especially the good ones) still lead pretty ordinary lives, without security details or even much personal wealth. The man accused of murdering Minnesota state legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband in June also had 11 Wisconsin Democratic politicians on his list. But I believe the solidarity of Democratic and independent left-wing elected officials matters. It matters as much as, probably more than, anything they can do through “official” channels that have been hopelessly perverted anyway.

If nothing else, we can hope for safety in numbers. We can hope that someone else will be safer tomorrow if we take risks today. We know that there’s greater risk, and boundless shame, in doing nothing. As it is, everyone who opposes the fascist United States government is a criminal and a target now. I’m afraid of people getting hurt if they take bold action. I’m afraid of people getting hurt if they take only feeble, symbolic action, or none at all. (Wisconsin’s own Governor, Tony Evers, kind of joined this club without even trying—a Trump advisor threatened Evers with arrest after Evers’ administration issued some wholly unremarkable, innocuous guidance for state employees encountering federal agents.)

I’ve written before that it is necessary to dismantle and purge the organized U.S. right as we know it. Elected Republicans keep proving it. Right-wing media outlets keep proving it. Conservatives’ grotesque parody of civil society keeps proving it. The supercharged federal deportation machine keeps proving it. At the very least, every single Democratic elected official in this country should be calling daily for Trump to be removed from office. It’s frankly insane that they’re not already doing that. There actually isn’t room for reasonable people to disagree on whether or not Trump should be in office. Stop pretending.

Republicans have made it very clear that as long as they’re in power—as long as they even have opportunities to gain power—this country will be an extremely dangerous place for anyone who doesn’t fit the fascist mold. We can’t count even a little on our human rights being honored, or on enjoying all the benefits of life in a free and civilized society, until we radically alter our political landscape. Government won’t work the way any reasonable person wants it to, until we repair or completely re-constitute it. Business as usual has become impossible. Our leaders, those in Wisconsin and everywhere else, must adapt accordingly.