Reinstitutionalism

I believe this is time for everyone to get back to the basics and focus on our collective practice of our Constitutional Democracy. This includes following the law, informing ourselves, participating, being considerate and introspective, and not cheating (e.g. gerrymandering or suppressing voters). It means fully understanding the responsibilities of citizenship, and holding each other in a high regard even when we might fundamentally disagree about something. I hope this doesn’t sound preachy but we are all stewards of the Great American experiment and we almost never hear this from our leaders. We also have to make sure our young people know these things. Focusing on the plays is how the 1960s Packers won all of those championships, remember?

The Governor is responsible to make sure that the laws of our state are enforced. Per the rule of law, all citizens and institutions are accountable to the same laws. For example, getting tough on crime includes holding any WI resident complicit in the attempted insurrection at our federal capitol accountable, and, same thing for any ongoing election fraud propagandizing. And, by the way, civil disobedience isn’t just a right but a responsibility. One of the governor's two stated responsibilities (as spelled out in the job description) is to ensure that the laws are upheld. This includes due process and equal protections under the law -- with no exceptions.

We hear a lot these days about our sacrosanct freedoms, but, as citizens in a republic we’re all responsible for making manifest our ecumenical, over-arching national culture of civility and respect (Hirsch, 1996). This requires knowledge, the ability to reason, and, introspection. The founders of America weren’t convinced citizens would be capable or even willing (and Washington worried that the political parties would undermine the process with unending sectarian discord) to carry these duties out. Participation also requires appreciating and considering every other American through the perspective of US history, and, the history of the social interaction of the people we’ve all descended from. We're all capable of this.

Growing up in the 1960's and 70's I could never have imagined today's level of incivility. And it isn't just the violence, mayhem (e.g. school shootings), people seriously advocating overthrow of the United States, wars, and other dysfunctional behaviors we see in the news every day. The integrity of our public discourse has been deliberately eroded by disinformation, deplorable role modeling, our 4th branch of government, and the polarizing of almost every issue. Focusing on the basics is the remedy.