Are Fair Maps in Wisconsin enough?
I live in a red area within an historically (deep) red county in (what has become over time) a purple state.
I strongly support fair maps. You have to, given the shape of the district in which I live (#WI05).
However, it is likely that any new maps will still leave me in a red area locked inside a nested set of red districts. It’s changing, but not enough — and certainly not fast enough.
That is, unless we can change the conversation with traditionally conservative (or Republican) voters.
Why has the GOP found it worthwhile to frame politics in our part of Wisconsin around:
- Taxes
- Abortion
- Guns
- Religion
- “Culture Wars”
- “School Choice”
- “Masks” / “Critical Race Theory”?
Not incidentally, these map to a variety of fears people may harbour:
- Fear of not being able to keep one’s property
- Fear of loss of life
- Fear of not being able to protect oneself (or to provide for one’s family through hunting)
- Fear of persecution
- Fear of being “overtaken”, “replaced” or “marginalized”
- Fear of losing out on opportunities for one’s children
- Fear of losing one’s freedom of choice of what’s best for themselves or their families
- Overall “fear of falling out of the middle class” or of falling behind
I do not endorse that framing, nor do I share the fears above. However, many people will and the Republican Party is reliably present to play to those fears.
I have a fear of my own. It is that, while falling prey to a party that plays to those fears, people end up losing sight of things like (in no particular order):
- The increasing precariousness of employment (across one’s working life and, now, into what should be retirement age)
- The associated precariousness of access to healthcare (particularly with employer-based insurance)
- Widespread addiction in communities (and the attendant “supply chain” that feeds it)
- Weakening of our democracy and democratic institutions (and a relatively low participation rate)
- The damage being done to our ecology and environment
- Rising (or at least persistent) economic inequality
- Racism — structural, systemic or otherwise — that persists to this day
- Marginalization and outright exclusion of minority groups
- A rising cost of education that is increasing the level of debt for both parents and students alike
- Retirement that is increasingly out of reach (leading to older people needing to find work late in life)
- Care for the elderly
- Gun violence
- …
It’s a daunting — and incomplete — list.
I believe we need to find a way to better engage people in our respective communities.
We need to amplify voices.
We need to make our voices known — to let people know there is another way, another perspective, another viewpoint.
We need to — I need to — ask better questions and bring people in my community into a different conversation around:
- Building a good society
- Creating a fair economy
- Creating a sustainable environment
- Rebuilding a strong democracy
Fair maps are essential, but we also need better conversations.
