Wow, Wisconsin is really messed up.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

Wisconsin voted for President Biden, has a Democratic governor and one Democratic senator, but at the state level it is barely a democracy.

First, the state legislature is ridiculously gerrymandered. Experts have said that in a 50-50 statewide election, Republicans would win 63 out of 99 Assembly seats and 23 of 33 Senate seats-- near supermajorities. This year, Republicans were able to renew the brutal gerrymander they had for the last decade with the help of the US Supreme Court (which struck down a slightly fairer map) and the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Second, right after current Gov. Evers (D) was elected, the legislature quickly removed many of the governor's powers in a lame-duck session.

And now, almost ridiculously, the state Supreme Court has rules in a party-line vote that a governor's appointees don't actually have to leave their jobs when their terms expire, unless the Senate confirms their replacements. This means that the previous Republican appointees can stay at their jobs indefinitely until the Republican-dominated Senate approves a replacement. And because of the gerrymander, the Republicans will always control the Senate. Wisconsin can elect Democrats for the next 30 years and the same Republican appointees can stay there forever.

Basically, the state legislature has seized enormous power for itself, and because of unfair maps, they will never be removed.

This isn't democracy. It's one party rule.

https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/wisconsin-high-court-says-republican-holdover-can-stay-on-natural-resources-board/article_5feaecce-69d3-530b-b4ee-7ee34fec0631.html

[mobeau69]

1. Of course. Pukes can't win on ideas. They don't have any. Cheating, division and fear is all they

have to stay in power.

[liberalmediaaddict]

2. It's scary stuff

David Pepper's book "Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call From Behind the Lines" is all about these Republican state legislatures.

They're doing the same thing to the Democratic Governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear. Stripping him of his executive powers. It's a sick game but they act like kings because they know they'll get re-elected no matter what they do.

[Tetrachloride]

3. Wisconsin needs outside star power.

[Evolve Dammit]

4. Great. Another criminal enterprise. GOP are not only deplorable, but Is an organized crime syndicat.

[gab13by13]

5. I have been screaming the same thing is happening in Pa.

This is my 47th post about how every election more people vote for Democrats in Pa. and every election Republicans pick up seats and this is why I cringe when I hear people say, all we have to do is GOTV. That is exactly what people who rig elections want people to say.

Doug Mastriano, the religious nut who was sent by god to exterminate wicked Democrats, is running for governor in Pa. I see his signs everywhere. He flat out stated that he will pick a SOS who will make sure that Republicans win every election. He said what he plans to do, he will have Pa. send Republican electors for president, no matter who the people voted for.

It doesn't matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes.

People of Pa., the 2022 election is the most important election that Pa. has ever faced. If we allow people like Mastriano and Oz to be elected, our votes will not count in 2024 and 2026 and 2028. and onward.

[Cosmocat]

20. Indeed

Pa resident, and you are 100% correct on Mastriano.

I seriously don't get how hard it is for Ds to run on these types of things.

Just put it out as a simple statement of fact and campaign on what Mastriano is trying to do to juice up "our side" then make direct appeals to independents to try to activate them.

[underpants]

6. I think the GOP did similar in N. Carolina a few years ago

If memory serves.

[mnhtnbb]

13. Yes! From the time Gov Cooper won in 2016

the gerrymandered Republican controlled State Legislature has been trying to limit the Executive powers of the Governor.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/16/505872501/north-carolina-governor-signs-law-limiting-power-of-his-successor

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/north-carolinas-legislature-tried-strip-power-new-governor-will-states

They have continued through Cooper's second term, less effectively, because they lost their super majority and Cooper has been able to use veto power in some cases.

The struggle continued through the pandemic.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article255270776.html

[dchill]

7. It's one of the ways I can tell there's no God...

Wisconsin government.

[Bluethroughu]

8. The Kochs built that state in 2010.

The majority of people vote Democratic, it's so gerrymandered that someone living on the Milwaukee shoreline is represented by someone who lives 3/4 across the state to the west. They chopped Milwaukee up into districts that include farmers more than have the state away, same for Madison.

This is about doing nothing for the people and extracting tax money to support big business.

It's done to break down government, and so far they are winning. All those drown government in a bath tub folks are killers of democracy and the US.

[Icanthinkformyself]

9. The Secret

discovered by conservatives; use democracy to gain power, then use it to remake the country so they remain in power. Terrorist groups have used the tactic in other countries to take over and they've done it here. Just as in Germany, 1932, and other places it's happened, the courts are a key element to the takeover, giving the fascists cover and giving the criminals an air of legitimacy. The courts have approved fascism over democracy. The end of fascism, for this epoch (it's a recurring theme in history) at least, will come when the fascists declare war, as they always do, and the world will rise up, again to take them on and defeat them. There is only one way this will ever be resolved and America return to some semblance of a democracy. Protests and marches won't be enough. And, we can only vote so hard.

[Cosmocat]

22. Its game over this time

We saved Europe from this shit twice.

No one is hoping on boats to come over here and save our asses.

Unless this country WTF up in B I G way in the next few months, we are done, and even then it likely is to late.

We roll into a chrisofacist authoritarian idocracy, its over.

[scarletlib]

28. Can't say I disagree.

[Celerity]

10. a perma-Red State will end up a shithole State

Ahead of their time:

A Nazi rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol steps, Saturday, August 28, 2006 in Madison.



Memorial near Wisconsin synagogue defaced with swastikas, pro-Trump graffiti (2017)

https://wisconsinwatch.org/2017/09/memorial-near-wisconsin-synagogue-defaced-with-swastikas-pro-trump-graffiti/

[LeftInTX]

16. Yeah, Wisconsin has real Nazis...

Texas has Neo-Nazis...

Take your pick

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Remember that they are trying to claw back the government created under the pall of Scott Walker

when the teabaggers basically took over the state (and many places around the country) after the 2010 rout (thanks to Citizen's United). Then you had people like Paul Ryan there along with the Kochs.

The fact that they were able to finally get a (D) back in as governor was the first step. And back during the teabagger invasion, thankfully Tammy Baldwin was able to keep Herb Kohl's Senate seat in the (D) column, although Feingold wasn't as fortunate (and note that Feingold was the other half of "McCain-Feingold", which was the Campaign finance law that Citizen's United overturned).

[Samrob]

12. For years some of us have been pleading with Dem leaders to press the importance of state and local

elections to no avail. In 2016 a group of us even sent pleadings to HRC and BS to talk more about this but they continued to focus time and money on pressing which could be the more progressive, BS to a larger extent than HRC. Now here we are with a more gerrymandered USA and the stage set to lose the House and the Senate as Biden struggles to get the respect and support he deserves to in order to make even modest gains. Town Halls rarely spoke to the need for the voters present to study their state and local candidates more and to not ignore the printed info sent out by the DNC. State and local voting education has NEVER been a major part of any Democratic agenda. We are scurrying now but it is almost too late. Focusing on the perfect at the expense of the possible has been our undoing. We have not learned to "bait and switch" like the GOP. And here we are.

[dalton99a]

23. Abandoning the 50-state strategy was a colossal mistake

That, and telling people to Shut Up and Turn the Other Cheek and Be Nice and Perfect and Play by the Rules that Republicans Don't Follow

[Rebl2]

27. I remember

Howard Dean, democrat, of VT. saying this many years ago. Guess the republicans were listening while democrats were not, for the most part.

[yardwork]

14. Same problem in North Carolina.

We usually have Democratic governors, including now. The state goes back and forth in who it supports for president. But NC is so gerrymandered, Republicans control both the state legislature and congressional seats. They've seized control of the state university system and are trying to destroy it.

[CurtEastPoint]

15. That part about destroying UNC. My alma mater and it is distressing to see it fucked with.

[yardwork]

25. It's disgraceful and heart breaking!

[kacekwl]

17. Does the Democratic party employ

lawyers ? I mean this is something that they should be working on to build a rock solid case to take to the courts. Gerrymandering along with the electoral college and the effects they have on democracy nationwide will make The Democratic party moot. Tick tock.

[live love laugh]

18. Coming to a state near you ...

[Native]

31. I was just getting ready to post the exact same thing.

And then I realized that if the Supreme Court fucks us over with the NC case, we will all eventually be dominated by the red states whether we live in one or not.

[mn9driver]

19. No state is safe from this.

The crisis for our democracy is more dire than a lot of people realize. Democrats in Washington have a very narrow window to try to stop what is happening there, and it feels like not enough of them fully understand what is coming.

They can’t be faulted for that, though, because the majority of their constituents don’t understand it either.

[Takket]

21. The GOP is destroying democracy while convincing voters to not vote because "both sides are as bad"

But our democracy is almost lost. Eventually SCOTUS is going to make legislatures of the state the sole voice in who wins elections, and those legislatures will gerrymander to make sure they never lose.

Voting won’t even matter any more. And once they get their fingers into a few more states, enough to call their own constitutional convention, then it is really over, and the remaining blue states will have no choice but to form their own countries.

This could all play out in the next 10-20 years.

And it could all be fixed pretty rapidly by getting rid of the filibuster to pass the voting rights act and expand SCOTUS to 13 to be in line with the appellate courts. That really isn’t very complicated and it’s wildly popular with the public.

[dalton99a]

24. +1

[Rebl2]

26. Sounds like one

party rule to me.

[roamer65]

29. You are going to have to do what we did in MI.

Independent redistricting commission.

[keep_left]

30. Like many states, WI is multiple states within its official state borders.

To a first degree of approximation, "Wisconsin" is really separate eastern and western halves. If you drive through western WI, you will quickly realize you are driving through chud country. You will see nonstop anti-abortion billboards, homemade political signs in farm fields, etc. Nearly everything you see like this will be from a far-right perspective. And western WI votes, unfortunately. They vote reliably enough that Tommy Thompson could essentially ignore large urban centers like Milwaukee during his career as governor and suck up to the increasing number of far-right "think" tanks in his state.

WI is not alone in this city-country geographical divide. Many states in the Upper Midwest like MN also have deep red areas. There is a maxim attributed to James Carville that succinctly describes the problem: "between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, you've got Alabama".

[Demovictory9]

32. yep... a bluish/purplish state that is ruled red

[budkin]

33. This is their goal for the entire nation

We have to stop them.