Saving Our Democracy: Dec. 13-19, 2018

Dec. 11, 2018

1:26 p.m.

The Shepherd Express serves as a clearinghouse for all activities in the greater Milwaukee area that peacefully push back against discriminatory, reactionary or authoritarian actions and policies of the Donald Trump administration, as well as others who seek to thwart social justice. We will publicize and promote actions, demonstrations, planning meetings, teach-ins, party-building meetings, drinking-discussion get-togethers and any other actions that are directed toward fighting back to preserve our liberal democratic system.

Get an updated listing of events here.

Thursday, Dec. 13

Represent.Us Kick-Off Party @ Milwaukee Public Library (2727 W. Fond du Lac Ave.), 4-5:30 p.m.

Represent.Us is a non-partisan movement hoping to end the corruption big money has brought to politics. The group is rallying behind the American Anti-Corruption Act that was crafted by former Federal Election Commission chairman Trevor Potter.

Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America Happy Hour @ Lakefront Brewery (1872 N. Commerce St.), 6-8 p.m.

The Milwaukee chapter of Democratic Socialists of America will host a happy hour for new members and people who are interested in the organization to come learn more about democratic socialism.

Friday, Dec. 14

Benefit Show for Families Separated by Deportation @ Club Garibaldi (2501 S. Superior St.), 6:30 p.m.-2 a.m.

This fundraiser for families that have been separated by deportation features raffles, food, drinks and music from DJ DRiPSweat, No Stress Collective, Mariachi Monarcas de Milwaukee, Saebra & Carlyle and Browns Crew. There will be a suggested $10 donation cover charge at the door.

Saturday, Dec. 15

Citizen Action WI Annual Meeting & State Budget Training @ Unity Center Milwaukee (1717 N. 73rd St.), 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin is celebrating another year of fighting for progressive causes across the state. The meeting will be a year-in-review for the organization and will also include trainings on citizen lobbying, Medicaid expansion and more.

Peace Action Wisconsin: Stand for Peace @ The corner of Highway 100 and North Avenue, noon-1 p.m.

Every Saturday from noon-1 p.m., concerned citizens join with Peace Action Wisconsin to protest war and, literally, “Stand for Peace.” Signs will be provided for those who need them. Protesters are encouraged to stick around for conversation and coffee afterward.

The Fight to Restore Driver Licenses for Immigrants & Low-Income People @ La Casa de Esperanza (410 Arcadian Ave., Waukesha), 5-7 p.m.

This event is a part of Voces de la Frontera’s campaign to pass legislation that will restore driver licenses to immigrants and low-income people. The group will share information on the campaign’s progress and upcoming actions.

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Laughing Liberally Milwaukee's War on Xmas Comedy Extravaganza @ ComedySportz Milwaukee (420 S. First St.), 8-10 p.m.

This special edition of Milwaukee’s monthly progressive political comedy show will make Donald Trump and Fox News’ made-up “War on Christmas” a reality. As always, the show will be hosted by comedian, satirist and progressive talk radio host Matthew Filipowicz. This month’s show also features Dina Nina Martinez, Jason Hillman, Marcos Lara, Stevie Leigh Crutcher, Josh Fred, Brittany Tilander and sketch comedy group The Accountants Of Homeland Security.

To submit to this column, please send a brief description of your action, including date and time, to savingourdemocracy@shepex.com. Together, we can fight to minimize the damage that Donald Trump and others of his kind have planned for our great country.

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Comments (3)

Comment Feed

a "WARPED" Democracy...

The opening paragraph states the true intention of this page...
"all activities… that peacefully push back against… the Donald Trump administration".

That is EXACTLY the kind of talk that has the same thought-extremism of the Trump MAGA crowd. You call the Trump Conservative and extremist a group that prefers to eliminate their enemies instead of converting or re-educating liberals and immigrants...,
well your kind of talk is every bit as much into eliminating the Trump camp instead of re-educating Conservatives and racists.

You are convinced that every Trump supporter will take their ideas to their grave,
just as every Trump supporter is convinced that you will take your ideas to your grave.

There was a classic song back in the "protest years" by a British band called Ten Years After, "I'd Love to Change the World" released in 1971. I was always amazed at the implications of part of the first verse...

"... Tax the rich, feed the poor, Till there are no rich no more..."

Was this a clear implication that even when you take all the money from the rich, that it still will not be enough to feed all the poor? They knew that back then and could not tell anyone?

Yet, the Trump camp is fully convinced that simply shutting down the border, along with deporting ALL non-white and non-Christian people will automatically bring back $30/hour jobs with Cadillac health insurance for EVERY white Christian. They think that all the "starving people in China" can be made to pay Arab Sheik prices to purchase our exports from the USA. But then, Americans aren't very good at numbers anyway, we excel at "all or nothing" talk, we know that "Git 'R Done!" does not follow "Generally Accepted Accounting Practices", or file any kind of compliance or quality control paperwork.

It is as if both extremes live by the belief that:
"There's not enough room for the two of us, so one of us has got to go (and it won't be me!)"

This is exactly what the Trump Conservative type fears, that Nancy Pelosi, Hillary, Obama, even Oprah, will not rest until every penny of the Conservatives' money has been seized and re-purposed for taking care of people who would rather get high, do useless artworks, or lay up in bed all day, "Making Love, Not War."

Honestly people, you need to find a different way!!

SE Wisc. Citizen more than 7 years ago

Ideas: alternative voting methods

See https://www.fairvote.org/
also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting

I like one style called "Approval Voting" or "Bullet Voting" for its easy simplicity for the common voter: Mark one (or more) candidates as "approved to win",
- so that you didn't have to skip your vote for Hillary to vote for Green Party Jill Stein,
- or skip your vote for Trump to vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson,
- or skip your vote for Ted Cruz to vote for Trump in the Republican Primary.
- or skip your vote for Hillary to vote for Bernie in the Democratic Primary.
Simply put, "Approval Voting" is easy, choose "all that are okay, none that you hate."
Approval voting fails in one way, it does not identify which of your 2 is preferred.

FairVote.org recommends "Ranked Choice Voting" which does let the voter tell choices as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. That is a little more difficult for those who have trouble ranking them all. But you don't need to rank them all, vote for 1st only if that is all you care about. Add a 2nd choice if that's all the farther you want to go. Nobody in Iowa wanted to rank all 17 Republicans... HARD.

Analysts have ways of ranking these voting methods:
- majority criterion states that "if one candidate is preferred by an absolute majority of voters, then that candidate must win".
- Condorcet loser criterion states that "if a candidate would lose a head-to-head competition against every other candidate, then that candidate must not win the overall election".
- Condorcet winner criterion states that "if a candidate would win a head-to-head competition against every other candidate, then that candidate must win the overall election".
- later-no-harm criterion states that "if a voter alters the order of candidates lower in his/her preference (e.g. swapping the second and third preferences), then that does not affect the chances of the most preferred candidate being elected".
- there are other criteria, no single voting method meets all criteria.

SE Wisc. Citizen more than 7 years ago

Ideas: A fix for gerrymandering

Here is the basic problem with rule by a "democratically elected republic"...
We may use a democratic popular vote to choose our elected officials, but a politician can be barely elected by a mere 50% +1 vote (like 10 vs 9, 100 vs 99, 100,000 vs 99,999), or may be elected by more, such as 55% Republican-safe "gerrymander-cracked" areas, 60%, 75%, even 90% (such as Democrats in "gerrymander-packed" Milwaukee).

But when that elected official casts their roll-call vote in the legislature or congress, it is one full vote, regardless of squeaking out a weak win in November or being elected by a huge landslide.

If you want to balance out the effects of "packing and cracking", then we need a proportional vote in our legislative bodies. Note that "packing and cracking" is totally legal whereas gerrymandering is not legal... therefore gerrymandering is really only "fake news" called out by a loser.

When a stockholder votes on a corporate board, his 100 shares gets him 100 "vote-points", but the holder of 100,000 shares gets 100,000 "vote-points", a vote that is 1000 times stronger. To the wealthy, this is "fair", but to followers of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "one-man, one-vote" is fair, even when that one man is at the very bottom of the poverty and indebtedness ranks. That last one is what "small D" democracy is defined as. Of course the top 1% hates that.

So what if our elected lawmakers could only apply a "point value" in his roll-call vote in the Assembly, House, or Senate, based on the election margin they won their election by.

If they won their seat with a mere 50% +1, that rounds to 50 and only 50 points applied. If they won their seat by that landslide 90%, then 90 points are applied. If win by unchallenged November election, only then can they apply their full 100 points.

What this would do is 2 things, apply an equalizing force to "packing and cracking", and also encourage the minority party to at least get somebody on the ballot. I live in a largely Republican region where there never seem to be any Democrats on the ballot, so I not only do I not even get a chance to experience "wasted votes", I don't even have a candidate to support in a primary race. I am sure that Republicans living in Democratic Milwaukee complain about the same thing.

If that is done, it then applies some real reason to campaign on all issues that matter for any given region. No longer would a candidate in Waukesha merely have to say "most Conservative" and leave the campaign at that.

Elections would matter again, and people will flock to the polls and feel like their vote matters, even when they lose. Voting (and losing) would at least shave off the vote power of the winning candidate.

But I will also say why few would want this... the beauty of "winner take all" such as our Electoral College in presidential elections is that the 50% +1 winning side can then reliably apply full power of their region's population into the final vote outcome.

SE Wisc. Citizen more than 7 years ago