Team Gold will be working hard in 2022 to re-elect Governor Evers, Attorney General Kaul and other Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. We will also be working hard to defeat Senator Johnson. Why? What is at stake?
One answer can be found by reading Laura Thornton’s recent column in The Washington Post.
Ms. Thorton is the director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. In her column she lays out what American authoritarianism looks like and shows that it is already here. Focusing on Wisconsin, she deplores the statements of Senator Ron Johnson and Republican lawmakers who are openly demanding control over election management in the state.
“I spent more than two decades living and working overseas to advance democracy and credible elections—giving me plenty of opportunity to see the lengths to which autocrats will go to gain power,” Thornton writes. “Even so, the proposed Wisconsin power grab is shocking in its brazenness. If this occurred in any of the countries where the United States provides aid, it would immediately be called out as a threat to democracy. U.S. diplomats would be writing furious cables, and decision makers would be threatening to cut off the flow of assistance.”
Democracy matters first and foremost if we are to tackle that long list of other critically important issues: racism, women’s reproductive health, social justice inequities, climate change, poverty, gun violence, medicaid expansion — and on and on. If you believe in any of those issues and the need for change, then first you need to join the fight to save our democracy. There is only one party who wants to do that, the Democrats. Join us and join the Democratic Party of Wisconsin in this effort. This is the fight of our time and every volunteer is critical.
Come back in January as we lay out our next steps. No matter which holidays you observe at this time of year, may they be happy and safe. See you in 2022!