I’m not originally from Madison, and I’ve never lived here over the summer. However, I’ve come to think of the city as my own, or of being one of its own, so I’m rather irritated by the seemingly pervasive idea that Madison is this little floating bubble, disconnected from reality. After Tuesday’s election, Gov. Scott Walker asserted Madison was one world, and the rest of Wisconsin was another. Walker was gracious enough to lump Milwaukee in there with Madison.
Madison’s population is roughly 223,289 people, and Milwaukee’s is 573, 358. Of Wisconsin’s population of 5,556,506, then, Madison and Milwaukee represent just over 14% of Wisconsinites. These two cities are the population hubs of Wisconsin (in comparison, Green Bay has just over 100,000). They are both centers of commerce, innovation, learning and culture.
Politically, yes, Madison is quite liberal. This is a town where Democrats are considered conservative and Tammy Baldwin is going to stay in office as long as she chooses to run (which is great, because Tammy is pretty awesome). On campus, the Humanities building was built to be riot-proof and Sterling Hall was bombed (with tragic results) in 1970. Madisonians voted for Barack Obama, Russ Feingold and Tom Barrett. Famed Progressive Bob La Follette is from Dane County. We’ve got progressives, liberals, lefties, hippies, socialists and Communists. We’re a city of PhD holders, of artists, co-op supporters and tree-huggers.
But that doesn’t mean Madison is off in its own little bubble. Madison is dealing with unemployment, poverty, achievement gaps, budget shortfalls and issues of long-term economic competitiveness, just like every other city in Wisconsin and across the country. We’re debating gun regulations, transit options and the Overture Center. Drivers worry about bikers and pedestrians, pedestrians worry about drivers and bikers, and bikers worry about pedestrians and drivers. (And longboarders just do whatever they want, and we’re all jealous of their skills). We’re eagerly waiting for the day when it’s warm enough to go jump in the lake. We’ve got cows over on Linden Drive.
In other words, Madison deals with the same issues that preoccupy other Wisconsin cities. Yes, the conversations are different in Madison than they are in, say, my hometown of Menomonie, but Madison has both a population that’s almost nine times larger and a Big Ten research university. Menomonie has UW-Stout, but it’s not quite the same.
Just as the conversations in Madison differ from the ones in Menomonie, so too do the conversations in Menomonie differ from the conversations in Sturgeon Bay. Wisconsin is a diverse place in terms of the attitudes and beliefs of its population. To say one place is quintessentially Wisconsin while another is just not is, to me, to deny the very vibrancy and complexity of Wisconsin culture. I mean, if Madison isn’t Wisconsin, then what is it? Illinois? Canada? California? Well, we haven’t got Rob Blagojevich, so we can’t be Illinois. But we do like maple syrup, so maybe Canada…but it’s a bit too cold up there. And California, well, we’ve never elected an actor to be governor, and we certainly don’t have an ocean view. But then again, we do have happy cows…
The results of Tuesday’s election reflect the current wishes of the majority of voting Wisconsinites, just like the results in November reflected the majority view of voting Wisconsinites at that point. I was disappointed by the results in November, and Walker is allowed to be disappointed by Tuesday’s results. But that doesn’t mean he should just dismiss them. These votes – from over 33 percent of eligible voters, a historic turnout – represent the voice of the people, the voice Walker is supposed to be channeling. If Walker wants to be a responsible, representative governor, he can’t simply dismiss that voice.
It doesn’t matter whether those votes came from Dane or Dunn County. They came from Wisconsin, and he purports to represent the state. I am tired of Madison being dismissed out of hand as irrelevant because it’s just filled with marijuana-smoking hippies, or whatever it is we’re supposed to be. I voted here, and I researched the candidates and the issues before I did so. I wasn’t high when I voted, and I would hazard to say (at the risk of sounding like I have a grossly inflated ego) that I am more attuned to the political reality of the state and country than most people from, say, Colfax (no offense to anyone from Colfax). But perhaps I’m just off in my own little bubble…
Elise Swanson ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in political science and English.
