With all the hype and publicity surrounding the presidential race, it’s easy to forget about the elections that actually impact our lives the most. Personally, I just don’t get how this highly partisan election that is played out entirely in the over-sensationalized corporate media, beyond the control of most of us, and decides which multi-millionaire gets to sit in a white mansion a thousand miles away has anything to do with our lives here at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Of course, the Kerry partisans will be quick to point out the way that Bush’s policies have screwed over the common man, but at the same time fail to mention that as Senator, Kerry voted for all of these measures. Ranging from the Bush economic plan which puts corporations first, the Patriot Act which is a blatantly unconstitutional infringement on our 4th Amendment rights, the No Child Left Behind Act which is designed to destroy public education, and the illegal, immoral and imperial war in Iraq which is draining money from social needs like healthcare and education, John Kerry is affirmatively on board the reactionary and Orwellian Bush political agenda — he just wants to carry it out a little more conservatively and cautiously than Bush does.
Indeed, our choice between Bush and Kerry amounts to a decision between the lesser of two evils, and yet too many good Madisonians get so wrapped up in it that they forget we have this little thing called federalism. Of course, I’m talking about the way that most political power in the United States actually belongs to states and local governments. The races right here in Madison and Dane County offer an opportunity for me and you to have a real say in the decisions that affect our lives, and let us build a genuinely progressive future.
Speaking of lesser-evils, wouldn’t you like it if you could vote for a candidate who genuinely represented your viewpoint without “spoiling” your vote? The solution: Elect Brian Pruka, Green Party candidate for Dane County Clerk, running head-to-head against Democrat Bob Ohlsen. Brian is an expert on voting reforms, and his writing has been published in numerous publications. He is especially active in promoting Instant Runoff Voting, also known as IRV.
Our current single-member-district, winner-take-all electoral system doesn’t let a voter express their true preferences. Under IRV, voters are allowed to rank candidates based on preference. If a voter’s top choice fails to garner enough votes, their ballot is re-cast for their next choice until the race is down to two candidates and one candidate has a true majority (more than 50 percent), not just a plurality of the vote (more than any other candidate). Brian believes that Instant Runoff Voting is a basic voter’s rights issue because it is the only system which allows the electorate to express their true preferences. He will also work for other electoral reforms like full public funding of elections to get dirty money and corporate influence out of politics.
The post of County Clerk also bears an incredible social responsibility — that is, to issue marriage licenses for couples about to marry. Brian intends to work closely with the local LGBT community to consider the possibility of issuing marriage licenses and conducting civil marriage ceremonies for same sex couples, in protest of the court system’s refusal to uphold the State and Federal Constitution guaranteeing equal rights under the law. Now we can get two birds with one stone: same-sex civil marriage equality and Electoral Reforms!
Or how about this “War on Drugs?” Much like prohibition during the 1920s, all that it does is drive the drug trade into a dangerous underground black market. On top of that, it is an incredibly racist and classist policy, targeting minorities and the poor at far higher rates than other groups, even though their rates of drug abuse are the same or lower than society as a whole. It incarcerates nonviolent offenders in the expensive prison industrial complex, turning them into violent thugs who come out of prison with a dim future ahead of them. Indeed, studies have shown that treatment is as much as seven times more cost effective than incarceration in dealing with drug problems.
Anyone with half an ounce of common sense (pun intended) can tell you that the drug trade needs to be legalized, regulated and taxed, as well as provide treatment for addicts. Yet neither Bush nor Kerry will talk about this issue, even though the United States has the highest rate of individuals in prison of any nation on earth because of this “War on Drugs.”
The solution: Elect Sally Stix District Attorney of Dane County. The current DA, Democrat Brian Blanchard, has a horrible track record on this issue (as well as a host of other issues) and would otherwise be unopposed if not for Sally and the Four Lakes Green Party. If elected, Sally will end the “War on Drugs” in Dane County by refusing to prosecute any case involving nonviolent drug or drug paraphernalia possession. In addition, she will actively work to reduce the racially discriminatory orientation of the “criminal justice” system. Problem solved.
On top of that, Tony Schultz is running as a Green head-to-head against Democrat Fred Risser for State Senate District 26. In recent disputes over both undergraduate tuition and TA healthcare, Risser has consistently sided with right-wingers in the State Capitol by favoring cuts to the UW System, opposing the right to organize for faculty and academic staff, and supporting corporate tax breaks which are draining money that would otherwise go to the UW system.
Regardless of who you decide to vote for in the presidential race, be sure to vote Green locally: Sally Stix for DA, Brian Pruka for County Clerk, and Tony Schultz for State Senate.
Bill Anderson is a sophomore and member of the UW Green/Progressive Alliance
