Have you seen the outrageous behavior of the Wisconsin G.O.P.? Gearing up to impeach a new Supreme Court justice only months after she won that office in a high-profile race the whole nation watched?
Stunning, right?
Shocking?
My advice: Be neither surprised. Nor shocked.
Be outraged, of course. Never normalize it.
But don’t be surprised. Ever.
Why? Because (as I explain in the video above) in recent years, this is what they’ve done, again and again, whenever they come close to losing power. What’s happening in Wisconsin right now is the absolutely predictable extension of what they’ve been doing around the country—often under the radar (partly because we too often only focus on federal races in swing states)—for years.
So, going forward, expect exactly the response we are seeing in Wisconsin.
But don’t let this awareness defeat you or your spirit. (Long term, not being aware is what will defeat both our spirit and democracy).
Being aware of how they will respond is what gives us the best chance to overcome it.
Because if we expect their lawless behavior, we can plan for it.
And head it off as best we can.
How?
Well, the long version of the answer is what my two books are all about.
But let me walk through just a few examples, which vary depending on your station in life:
1) If you are a Court, or in any other position to hold lawbreakers accountable, assume in advance they will break the rules. Proceed accordingly. And hold them swiftly accountable when they do.
They believe—usually correctly, from recent experience—that they will never be held accountable. So if you are in a position to hold them accountable, lean in and do it.
And don’t assume they will follow norms or laws because you tell them to—or even order them to. When you assume they plan on following the rules, they win.
Remember, too, that delay is their ally. They count on it to get away with their lawlessness. So don’t allow them to win by delay.
2) If you are advocating for reforms on issues like districting, keep those reforms—and their execution and enforcement—as far away from these lawbreakers as possible.
Take it from this Ohioan, if these politicians are given any role and opportunity to meddle or defy rules that would otherwise threaten their grip on power, they will meddle and defy them however they can.
So as we push for reforms, we all must do what Michigan and other states have done: make the reforms self-executing whenever possible, and keep their implementation and enforcement as far away from these lawless and gerrymandered politicians as possible.
The new gerrymandering reform effort in Ohio (“Citizens, Not Politicians”) is following this model. Good!
3) Maintain grassroots energy as loudly and steadily as possible, and call out any lawlessness early and clearly.
Of course celebrate big victories when they happen, but for about a day or two. Then… EXPECT them to do whatever they can to undo those victories and/or their consequences. And keep a fever pitch of grassroots energy and noise going.
This type of energy played a big role with our success in defeating Issue 1 in Ohio. It shaped the debate from the very beginning:
And right now, Wisconsin Democrats are rallying to do the same to stop what the GOP is planning there. Help them if you can by going to this website.
Wherever and however you can, bring the political 🔥. Letting things die down after a victory gives them an opening if their plan is to overturn that outcome.
4) Know the levers of political power before you enter the big battles. And focus on what levers will help you fend off their inevitable attempts to defy democracy.
Example: at the same time that the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat was up in April, so too was a state Senate seat.
If the Democratic candidate had won that seat, it would have eliminated the veto-proof gerrymandered Wisconsin Senate majority that now may have the power to impeach Justice Protasiewicz.
But in April, that Democratic candidate lost by just over 1,000 votes. ☹️
Lesson: if you know that they will inevitably defy democracy if given the chance, don’t give them that chance. Fight like hell for every lever of power that protects democracy, and especially the ones that are most important in stymieing the predictable ways they WILL attack democracy.
Like that Senate seat.
5) And of course, run everywhere. Too many of those defying democracy do it knowing that they will not face an opponent in the next election. Think about that—extremist incumbents won’t even face a singly door knock or phone call explaining to voters how lawlessly they have behaved—and how extreme and out-of-touch their voting record is.
Without even an opponent, of course they’ll keep acting the way they do. Why would they ever stop?
Running against them all brings transparency and accountability to what they are doing. Even running hard and losing does so much more than the crisis of the moment—where huge numbers of these lawless extremists run unopposed.
This chart shows how bad that crisis is:
So…run against all of them. Every time. That has to be the new default. The new business as usual.
Make them answer for their lawlessness and democracy defiance, every day! Win or lose, that constant pressure brings accountability and some incentive to change behavior that today simply don’t exist.
And sometimes, you will defeat them.
The Bottom Line:
Never again be surprised that in 2023 and after, the current far right that has hijacked so many of our statehouses refuses to abide by the norms or results of democracy.
Democracy threatens their power. And they’ve gotten away with defying it for years, getting bolder every time they succeed.
So, expect them to defy it…know it’s coming.
Plan for it. Study what they’ve done in other states to see what they may do in your state.
And in every part of YOUR plan to fight for democracy, plan for them to behave this way.
It’s not easy, and we’ll lose some battles, but we can overcome it over the long run it if we see this all plainly.
If we don’t, and we continue to be “surprised” and “shocked” by a pattern that has become so damn predictable, then we will never overcome it.
On Wisconsin: Never Be Surprised Again