On Mitt Romney

I might have some more posts in the next couple of weeks if my news feed keeps up like this.

This is from a facebook friend I have - directly from his status today. I'll leave him nameless for now - the point stands for itself.

If you plan to vote for Mitt Romney, you are putting a nail into my civil rights coffin, and I'd rather not have friends who think I deserve anything less than equal treatment under the law. Romney supports DOMA (which directly and negatively impacts me, restricting my future husband Mike, the children we plan to have, and my federal protections and tax benefits under the law), and Romney has noted his support for an anti-marriage equality amendment as well.

While you may see your vote for him as one about the economy (and we can debate who'd be better for that until the cows come home), what you INTEND by your vote really doesn't matter. Your vote means that you are supporting someone who not only thinks I'm not equal to you, but who works vigorously to ensure my "less-than" legal status. Your vote for him means that you are totally fine with me being treated with disrespect.

Now, you may see this as an indication that I am being too "single-minded," and I'll admit that when you're denied even the simplest of human considerations, it makes it difficult to look beyond that. But this is about much more than my treatment under the law. Who I am and what I believe passionately in are also things which Romney discounts. I believe in full and fair treatment of ALL people, but Romney believes that women should not receive equal pay for equal work, something my Mom has battled against her entire career.

I believe we need to take care of our earth, even if it means tightening our belts, but Romney favors further deregulation over environmental concerns. I think it is our duty to support things like art and culture (I view them as essential), but Romney disparages the role these play in enriching our lives; he sees them as extraneous and will cut public funding. I believe, just as education is a right, health care is as well, but Romney wants to abolish the Affordable Care Act. I care about those less fortunate and the elderly, and think it is our collective responsibility to ensure their well-being, but in Romney's eyes, these people are victims and moochers. In short, who I am isn't just who I love, it is the things I feel passionately about. And Romney stands against almost all of them.

This is not a debate forum, so please don't see this as an invitation to chime in with your disagreement. If you believe I am your equal and deserve equal rights, if you believe my Mother deserves equal pay and not $.77 on the dollar, if you believe that whatever we do to the least of these we do as unto God, if you believe in women's reproductive rights, if you believe in art and culture and music, if you believe in a clean environment for your grandchildren, then vote for President Obama. If you don't believe in any of these things, I honestly don't want to hear about it. If an honest plea from someone who will be adversely affected by the very things Romney supports, that would be me, if my heartfelt plea doesn't change your mind and give you pause to just think differently for a moment. Well, then I really don't want to know.

But you will.

A Response to a Popular Facebook gif

Some friends of mine on facebook were discussing this picture today. Rather than get into a long comment discussion, I figured, hey, I have a blog! So here we go.

This is a good example of the free-market healthcare plan. In a nutshell, it's really a two step solution. Step 1: Live Responsibly. Step 2: Don't ever have any unexpected medical issues. No cancer, no car accidents, no miscarriages, no slips or falls, etc.

I think in a functioning society everyone needs to step up and do their part. But this only goes so far. We also need to step in and take care of each other once in awhile. You see good-hearted people doing this all the time in neighborhoods and churches around the country.

I don't know how you go about making it fair. Seems like now the punishment for unhealthy people is a slow death and an uncomfortable life, with the occasional free emergency room visit.

I don't know how we could have a more market-oriented coercive system...in theory everyone should be healthier because no one wants to live poor, die young and get fat. And yet here we are. Meanwhile, comparable world examples with socialized medicine tend to have healthier people at a lower cost, with an equal amount of basic freedom and economic mobility. I'm thinking of the UK or Germany. Both have two vastly different forms of universal coverage and I highly doubt that anyone in either country feels any less "free" than we do in the US.

I'd prefer to shift to a system where prices are more predictable. The math there generally works out to either a) a single-payer, government sponsored solution, or b) a highly-regulated, highly-accountable privately run system. Right now we have a half-cocked private system with not nearly enough regulation on price controls. Providers and insurance companies can essentially charge us whatever they want to charge us. The consumer and the producer don't have equal amounts of control on the supply/demand curve.

The extent to which we as consumers can actually affect our costs will have to involve massive amounts of people simply leaving the system and following the attached .gif (or just dying).

Whatever the solution really is, it's to the benefit of those with the economic power to have us consumers separated, squabbling down here about causes, when we could very likely get to a solution if we did the research, found the best fix, and stuck to our guns until it was in place.

Blaming the chronically ill for our rising healthcare costs and then just throwing your hands up when the bill comes....something about this approach hasn't worked for us for the past 50 years.

Love Will Keep Us Together

In the dime stores and bus stations
People talk of situations
Read books, repeat quotations
Draw conclusions on the wall
Some speak of the future
My love she speaks softly
She knows there’s no success like failure
And that failure’s no success at all

-Bod Dylan, Love Minus Zero/No Limit

I've spent the morning reading accounts of yesterday's election, listening to friends break the situation down amongst themselves. But this beautiful Dylan song continues to run through my head today.

There's a lot to be considered this morning. In the mountains of data at our disposal, there are assumptions to be made and conclusions to be drawn. There are small victories to be cheered, like the turning over of the senate. We have more victories ahead of us in local elections, and a strong base of friends and volunteers.

As working men and women, we've weathered much worse. While I see the economic stability of the middle class slipping away, I think we've got plenty of battles we can win to provide protection. Saul Alinsky always tried, when he was working with a new group, to win small battles first. We did the opposite - we picked a huge fight, against enormous power and gobs of cash. It's not really amazing that we lost. What's amazing is that we even had a chance.

We're so much more powerful today than we were 16 months ago, if only for the simple fact that we know each other. 45% of this state last night committed to a new future for Wisconsin. It's our job to use this muscle everywhere we can. Yes, we need to look at our failure and ask, "how." But we also need to look at the victories here.

We also need to find out how to broaden our appeal. Our key message is economic justice for the working men and women of Wisconsin. We've got a strong coalition of the Farmers Union, teachers, public sector unions, the tribes, and progressives across the state. We can make significant gains for large amounts of people if we work together.

Our job, over the summer, should be to honestly convince one uncommitted person apiece. We need to make the case that getting involved is important, that we're better off standing together against big corporate power, and that we need strength in the movement. We're not there yet, but we're close. We may not win every battle, or every election, but we can maintain our voice as a united group.

I feel such a heartfelt sense of solidarity with all those who put themselves out there on the front lines. The candidates themselves, the callers, and all those who worked so hard to do the bare-knuckle organizing and canvassing for our cause. We all know how important it is to stay engaged. Let's keep moving forward - we've taken a lump today, but we can dust ourselves off and, after a bit of a breather, come out stronger than ever. Wisconsin will be ours!

Needles and Pins

God Bless The Ramones, and God Bless America.

I sit here this afternoon on needles and pins, awaiting the results of today's momentous election. I hope our efforts pay off in victory tonight! It's going to be close. There's a party in Eau Claire tonight with the folks that have fought so hard to reclaim our state. Email me if you want the details, you're more than welcome to join us.

We've canvassed, called, stood on corners gathering signatures, and some of us even slept in the capitol. Today is the day we have wished for since last February. I will be doing my personal best to enjoy it - all of it. This includes the butterflies, the hope, the fear, the skepticism, and every other raw emotion that comes through today.

I hope we as progressives are able to maintain the long view. We're on the right side of history here, and we can be proud of our accomplishments. We're galvanized in a way that is almost unexplainable. Think of the folks you've met through this process. In this pool are future school board, city council, and state government representatives. You've got a group of great friends who know how to work together. You know each others' strengths and weaknesses. You just happened to pick the toughest battle first. Believe me, after this, a whole lot of local political efforts are going to seem pretty simple by comparison.

We know our state government and our local communities inside and out. There's nothing we can't accomplish if we stick together. So don't fear today. Celebrate it. We made this happen. This fight is a blip on our radar. In a few years, it's going to be a small bullet point on the beginning of our progressive resumes. Wisconsin will be ours!

Crunch Time

I sit here this morning amazed. Over the past 15 months or so, we have been participants in something completely beyond and outside our experience. Never in our lifetime has there been a progressive movement like this. We're this close to toppling a sitting governor.

I feel like we've come so far. For over a year, the progressives in this state have been running in what now seems like a marathon. With almost no money, against very big money, we've taken the fight to some extremely powerful national interests. We've had to face down an angry, reactionary section of the populace who blame teachers and welfare moms for our country's problems. We've stood together in the elements, the rain, the snow, the frozen Wisconsin winters, and hot summertime parades.

We saw the Occupy movement spring up in New York, months after we occupied our capitol building for weeks on end. Many of their signs matched ours. In my visit to New York last winter, at a bar in Hell's Kitchen, I spoke for hours with Occupy progressives, relating how we did it, who we were, trading stories and advice, sharing our work ethic and our motives. Our progressives have become famous across the country, not because we're amazing, but because we're ordinary.

We're ordinary men and women standing up to power, using every resource in our control to make our state better, expressing the very best in democratic values. We're holding our elected officials accountable as our founding fathers truly had intended. We're moms and dads, college kids, snowplow drivers, teachers, cops, firefighters, business owners, nurses, software geeks. I've heard from so many great progressive people from so many different walks of life.

It's not always pretty. In fact I think some of this has at times gotten very ugly. We've all made mistakes somewhere in the mix. Our state is divided, and in the heat of things, there's no doubt that we've separated ourselves here or there on party lines. I know I have friendships where we just don't talk politics anymore. Somehow we need to pull together again, with love and with understanding, even in the face of anger and disappointment.

I personally believe we can win tomorrow - polls show that turnout is key. I've got butterflies in my stomach today thinking about it. In one sense, everything comes down to tomorrow. In another sense, I think it's important for us to realize that we will be waking up to a whole new state on the morning of June 6th.

My sincere hope for us, as progressives, is that, win or lose tomorrow, we continue to fight, and that we continue to bring our strong work ethic and devotion to bettering Wisconsin. Political involvement has now become the norm for so many of us. I hope that we can remain active for decades to come.

Throughout history, the working class has witnessed defeat at the hands of the powerful. We've also made gains that have been rolled back. But if you ever really stop to take notice, our victories are never fully taken away. When we take three steps forward, they may take one or two back from us here or there. But in the end we will have created an infrastructure that knows how to fight, knows what it means to win, and understands that the health of our state depends on the economic well being of the men and women who go to work every day.

I think of our history as progressives, going back generations. Yes, they made progress, but in the thick of things, while cops were beating them with clubs, while they were on the picket lines, stopping the gears of industrialism, risking their entire livelihoods...was it ever clear that they would win? In spite of this, they pressed on, year after year. And even though our grandparents lost a few battles, they kept on fighting, so that we could have better lives. It's our job to carry their banner for the next generation. No victory is final, and no defeat is the end.

Tomorrow is the end of this race, though, and we need to finish strong. I'll be working tonight, and I hope you will, too. But as you do this with your brothers and sisters, remember that, no matter what happens, we took it to them and we gave them a hell of a fight. Wisconsin will be ours!

An Explanation of the Gap

It's been a long time since I last posted!


Since January, last I checked.


An update, for the curious:


I've switched jobs, from sales back to a technical project management position. It's a welcome shift for me, back to the role of a technical tradesman of sorts. If this were the 30's I'd be a mechanic, and if it were the early 1800s I'd probably be a blacksmith or something. At any rate, I'm pleased with the new job, the new surroundings, and the satisfaction of a job with certain, obvious answers. Working in sales was a great ride, but I needed a rest from the pressures that the job put upon me.


My wife and I also went through a medical ordeal that pretty much sucked the energy out of me for a few months. It's not that I didn't care about politics, but between that and the employment transition, my free time was spent in the space that I've often found the most solace: music.


I've been writing songs for years with various bands, as well as material that just hasn't found its home in a band yet. After the death of a good musical friend last fall, it seemed to be a duty of sorts to produce what I could, when I could. My friend Troy Jackson was nearly old enough to be my grandfather, but he played harmonica with the enthusiasm and spirit of a 20 year old kid, until he could no longer breathe a long enough breath to hold a note. Through his example, Troy taught all of us: if we have opportunities to play and to share,we should take them. Our days are short. Music is one of those things that keeps us alive in the dark times, and keeps us smiling in the good times.

With this in mind, I got together with my good friend Matthew Probst this spring, and we recorded a handful of tunes in his upstairs apartment in St. Paul. I've begun work on a socialist gospel project, and I also had some lingering tunes from the years gone by that needed a home. Slowly, as the songs come around, a solo set is emerging.

One of the songs that has been sitting in my care for awhile is the tune attached here. I wrote this song for a friend of mine who was called up to serve in "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Upset by the propaganda, he was feeling forced into a war that we had no business starting. His mother was a devout patriot who believed in the war with a fervor.

My friend was (and remains) a punk rock kid who learned early to be skeptical of authority. Despite this, he was a man of his word, and honored his commitment to the military. The conflict he felt was far closer to home than most of us feel; of course I watched in horror as the news media repeated lie after lie. But here in our presence was a 20-something year old boy that had to face a living adherent to the propaganda. This song is a mirror of his frustration, and probably mine as well.

So far we've got four songs recorded, enough for an EP. This was enough to garner me a set at Phoenix Park in Eau Claire this summer at their Sounds of Summer Concert Series on June 28th.

I'm looking forward to playing more events, progressive and otherwise. If you, O Reader, find an event that needs a Woody Guthrie substitute, I'd love to hear about it. I will continue to blog here. I'll also be sharing more music as it becomes available.

On a final note, PLEASE continue to fight, canvass, make calls, make donations, and TALK TO YOUR NEIGHBORS about the recall election on June 5th. We're almost done! Now is the time, in the marathon, for that final sprint across the finish line! Wisconsin will be ours!

Roe v Wade - 39th Anniversary

Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal legations.

-right wing email forward, allegedly from an editorial in a Waco, TX newspaper

A friend of mine forwarded a right-wing screed today containing a bunch of punishments for people receiving state poverty assistance. There are several other ideas on how we can further punish the poor, but this one stuck out today. I'm glad I have friends with differing opinions. It's good for us all, I think.

It's the 39th anniversary of Roe v Wade today. My wife works at Planned Parenthood, so we're pretty well versed in the subject of reproductive health, and the surrounding controversy. There is an assumption on the part of many that all Roe v Wade did was legalize abortion.

I am reminded today that the case actually opened doors for women all over the spectrum. In some instances, women were forced into abortions without their consent. In many states, birth control was not available. Back-alley abortions were common, and often deadly.

The main issue in the case was the entitlement of privacy. These decisions are to be made by the woman involved, in consultation with her doctor. Her reproductive health is hers and hers alone to manage. This extends to abortion, contraception, tubal ligation, and every other reproductive right under the sun.

This author from Waco, and my friend, in tacit agreement, are arguing for either forced sterilization, or the administration of a drug (norplant) that was discontinued in 2002 due to terrible side effects.

So, to sum it up: if you lose your job, and need government assistance, please step into this line to receive your sterilization, or step into this line to receive your irregular menstrual bleeding, headaches, nausea and depression.

On this 39th anniversary of Roe v Wade, I'm happy to live in a country where this pipe-dream of forced sterilization and/or intrusion into the bodies of half of our working poor is in fact just a dream.

The irony is, my friend votes for politicians who would deny cheap contraception to women. This is where Planned Parenthood comes in. Planned Parenthood's main business is not in fact abortion, but pregnancy prevention. My wife works every day to provide safe, low-cost options to women looking to pro-actively manage their reproductive health. Her office in Eau Claire doesn't even perform abortions. And yet Planned Parenthood is under attack from Republicans across the country, at local, state, and federal levels.

On the one hand, they demand that women control their bodies. On the other, they deny them the ability to do so responsibly.

I can't use a word to define this type of thinking - the words themselves are degraded. Hypocrisy doesn't cover it - too easy. Irony doesn't hit it - it's not a Woody Allen film. Sad doesn't really begin to describe how I feel - I mean, Jesus, does my friend believe this stuff? I'm not exactly sure words really get to the immediate reaction I had.

But as I think about this, it's not all bad. In fact, this reaction is in part due to the successes women have seen in their fight. After millenia of struggle, women continue to break out into the world and take on roles that were all too often unreasonably limited to men. I'm happy to think that my eventual daughters will grow up in a world better than the one their grandmothers braved. It's a reminder that the fight continues.

Yes, there will be reactionaries, like my friend. But we'll be there too, hand in hand to stand up for the rights of all citizens. I look forward to all of these struggles with you, my new friends in Wisconsin. There is no sweeter victory than a victory on behalf of the people. And I mean all the people, not just the privileged, the affluent, or the powerful. Wisconsin will be safe if we stick together. Wisconsin will be OURS!