There is a reason Madison is said to be 25 square miles surrounded by reality.

Nowhere else, other than at UC-Berkeley, are there regular protests about how evil the U.S. government is, how the “man” is keeping someone down, or how corporations are ruining the world. Nowhere else am I made to feel like an evil person because I proudly display the American flag, because I tout fiscal responsibility, because I like capitalism and because I don’t see the government or corporations as evil entities.

Outside the island, Madison is better known for concentrating on issues where they not only have little chance of influencing the outcome, but they are also often issues people in the real world have already debated and moved on from.

Madison’s eccentrics do have an upside in that they’re a welcomed display of free speech — nowhere else in the world will you see democratic politicians campaigning for the student vote in Library Mall and, not twenty feet away, see someone from the socialist party touting their propaganda.

But Madison’s reputation for being different, abnormal and sometimes downright crazy hurts us more than just having people shake their heads and say “that’s Madison.” It causes us to become excluded from the important debates and decisions that directly affect our lives.

Case in point — the upcoming gubernatorial race. Madison is the state capital, and one would think the center of the political storm as Gov. Scott McCallum and Attorney General Jim Doyle duke it out to follow in Tommy’s footsteps. Because of this, we should be the most informed voters, and the rest of the state should be looking to Madison for critiques and analysis of whom the candidates are and what they believe — not ignoring us.

But ignoring us they are. McCallum and Doyle last week announced the dates and locations for their three debates. Not one is in Madison. Instead they will be traveling once to Eau Claire and twice to Milwaukee.

Madison isn’t even seeing nearly the same number of television ads that the rest of the state is. According to a new study by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, out of the state’s three largest television markets — Milwaukee, Green Bay and Madison — candidates are spending the least amount of money in Madison, where only 3,487 ads have been run at a cost of $815,339 since the beginning of the year. Green Bay has seen at least a thousand more since January, where 4,473 ads have run at a cost of $961,022; Milwaukee has had 4,114 ads run at a cost of $2,247,837.

These two candidates are also ignoring students. During the primary season, McCallum and Doyle were the two candidates who hardly set foot on campus, compared to the heavy campus campaigning done by Kathleen Falk and Tom Barrett. It is doubtful they will change their practices before November. Instead, they will be spending their time and money in places where they think they can change the vote.

Despite all of the protests, and despite the fact we are the center of the state’s political activity, Madison’s citizens are seen as a lost cause and, thus, forgotten about; when in reality we should be setting the stage for the rest of the state, because we are the ones who have the most information about all of the shenanigans happening at the capitol.

But, Madisonites don’t function in the real world — they function in “Madisonland.” Anywhere else in the country, being patriotic isn’t considered evil. Anywhere else in the country, people don’t see daily protests about events half a world away. Anywhere else in the country, people lead normal lives. And these are the people the candidates are going to focus on between now and November.

Thus, all the time Madisonites spend screaming about problems half a world away, instead of worrying about issues at home they can actually change, is wasted because their screaming lands on deaf ears.

Thomas Friedman gave the best example of how useless college protests can be in his Sunday New York Times column about globalization when he said, “. . . while pampered college students and academics in the West continue to debate about whether countries should globalize, the two biggest countries in the world, India and China — who represent one-third of humanity — have long moved beyond that question.”

In other words, while people on campuses like UW are still protesting about how it should be, the people they are trying to influence have already made up their minds and moved on.

Madisonites, especially students, need to realize how much this governor’s race can affect them. The governor is the one who is going to help decide how much money the university receives and, thus, how high tuition is. The governor is the one who will play a role in deciding how much we pay in taxes as well as what the state’s environmental and fiscal policy are. These are problems that need to be immediately concentrated on by people in Madison — not who is right, Israel or the Palestinians; not the evils of SUVs or capitalism; and not what kind of coffee Starbucks uses or tomatoes Taco Bell puts on my nachos supreme.

Madison protesters have every first-amendment right to express their views on what they want, but their energy is going to waste. Madisonites have the power to influence issues closer to home, but instead of embracing the challenge, they are ignoring it. And only when Madisonites start concentrating more on the issues that directly affect them will lawmakers and the decision-makers start paying attention. Until then, Madisonites’ protests will only fall upon deaf ears.

Katie Harbath ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and political science.