A couple weeks ago, Herald Managing Editor Kevin Bargnes stirred controversy with a column about former UW College Republicans Chair Sara Mikolajczak. Bargnes argued Mikolajczak was “bad for UW,” because, among other things, she promoted an agenda of social conservatism that was wildly out of touch with the UW student population. According to the article, Mikolajczak had a nasty habit of making inflammatory statements that gave students the impression the GOP is a far-right party that is hostile to basic expectations of reason.
I, for one, am mourning the loss of Mikolajczak, and anybody who has paid attention to politics in recent years should, too. Frankly, the prospect of a CR chair as careful in her word choice as Crystal Lee is frightening. It means Republicans on campus are trying to convince students they are moderate. Nothing could be further from the truth. You don’t have to go to South Carolina to find a right-wing lunatic in a high position within the GOP. Right-wing lunacy is the guiding tenant of the GOP in Wisconsin.
In the 1946 Republican primary for U.S. Senate, incumbent Sen. Robert La Follette Jr. — successor to the great progressive tradition started by his father, “Fighting Bob” — was defeated by a demagogue from Appleton named Joe McCarthy. Although poor Wisconsin had the misfortune of becoming associated with the briefly powerful sociopath, Wisconsinites were nevertheless shrewd in sending McCarthy to Washington, where he was forced to attack foes too powerful to crush, such as the Army. Had he stayed in the Badger State, you can bet he’d have changed our school colors in an effort to cleanse Wisconsin of its Badger redness.
Of course, such a prospect would not be ludicrously unrealistic if today’s Republicans were in power. Rep. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater, the man who Assembly Republicans put in charge of the committee that oversees UW affairs, has made it his personal mission to micromanage the political views of UW faculty. He even pushed for a McCarthyite “code of conduct” for UW employees, including a pledge that they not make anti-American statements. Explaining the policy, Nass’ puppet master — excuse me, chief of staff — Mike Mikalsen, cleared up the controversy with a soothing touch of xenophobia: “Part of the issue is we have foreign-born professors. Those professors say things.” I’m glad he cleared that up.
Of course, crypto-fascism is certainly not restricted to the state Capitol. D.C. Republicans welcome the lunatics we send them with open arms. They appointed Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., to head the House Judiciary Committee, where, among other things, he proposed making indecency in the media a crime and has become the leading voice (outside of Fox News shows) against “amnesty” for illegal immigrants. Sensenbrenner so brazenly flaunts his hatred for the undocumented that he once told a New York Times reporter he uses a machine-operated car wash for his Caddy to avoid the risk of dealing with the undesirables. “[The machine tokens] don’t have Montezuma’s picture on the front of them,” Sensenbrenner quipped.
Badger Republicans who aren’t interested in restricting civil liberties (far and few) over invisible threats nevertheless prove their loyalty to the fringe by ridiculing the ones that actually exist. Extending the system of health care now available to seniors and veterans to everyone is decried as “government takeover” by the GOP’s new point man on health care, Rep. Paul Ryan. If you point out that it’s not government takeover but government competition, he says it’s unfair to private business. You know, kind of like how public schools put private schools out of business … oh.
Even if global warming were written in the Bible, the GOP would find a reason to call it false, just like it has found a convenient reason to ignore every other part of its guiding document besides Leviticus 18:22.
Although Republicans don’t like to admit poverty exists, the record shows their
favorite policy in Wisconsin is prison construction. Gov. Tommy Thompson — considered by many to be a model of Republican moderation — nevertheless pursued a fanatical crime policy that doubled the state’s prison population between 1995 and 2002. Today, Wisconsin spends more than $1 billion a year on prisons, or virtually the same amount that it does on the UW System. The damage has only begun to be undone by Gov. Doyle, who was the spineless attorney general going along with the “truth in sentencing” craze back when it was in fashion.
Within the context of Wisconsin politics, Sara Mikolajczak was about the most accurate representation of the Republican Party you could ask for. At least she was honest. She believed global warming was a lie and was proudly opposed to any type of public health care. Even though her organization didn’t take a position on the marriage amendment, she admitted voting in favor of it. Center-right fiscal conservatism is not an accurate representation of the GOP, as the current CR leaders are attempting to argue. Radical right-wing fanaticism is. It’s just too bad that Mikolajczak isn’t around this year to remind us of that.
Jack Craver ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history and editor of a local politics and culture blog, The Sconz (thesconz.com).
