The last few days have been nothing short of amazing here at ChicagoBoyz due to the work of Lex Green and the regognition it received on the Glenn Beck show. The posts and comments are some of the most insightful I have read in some time. Hopefully we will secure many of the new commenters for more sharing of knowledge in the future.
I am inspired and am learning a lot. I have learned that there seems to be a wave forming. A very large wave that may still be a long way away. It sort of reminds me of a vacation I just took to Michigan a few weeks ago. As I was enjoying a swim in the waters with my kids we would see a boat go by out in the distance. Several minutes later the wake from that boat would provide us with some waves to play on. Has America just seen the boat go by? I am not sure that I have seen it yet – because I live in Madison, Wisconsin.
For those who don’t know, Madison is one of the hardest liberal bastions in the nation. Imagine Berkley with snow. Here, it is the same old same old, from having lgbt counselors at the high schools to leftist marches on the state capitol. All the old “indian” names of the parks are being taken down in favor of more politically correct names (as an oddity, I believe that 50 years or so from now, the native American culture will be largely forgotten for this, but I digress). We still have stupid hippie communities. Didn’t think there were any of those left, did you?
On top of being relatively isolated from the fun (guess how much coverage the Beck rally got in our local media) I own my own business, am raising two kids, and all the rest. My plate is full. I want to help but don’t see how I can, besides sending money to those who have more time than myself. And that is what I plan to do. I would imagine that there are a lot of people like me that are super busy that may feel the same way. Am I wrong?
But there is a little good news. Ron Johnson is giving our senator Russ Feingold a real run for his senate seat and that is something I never thought I would see. I love this ad – even though Johnson is a Repuplican, he portrays himself as just a “guy”, not a politico – video.
I hope guys like Johnson won’t sell me out if they get elected and it won’t be the same ‘ol, same ‘ol in DC. From the looks of it I am thinking it won’t, but the glass will be half empty until I see the new wave in action.
Like the rest of you, I think there is a wave coming. The 1994 election results were marred by a business-as-usual attitude in Washington, even by the new majority. I was finishing up a degree at Dartmouth on health care economics and analysis. After many years of practice as a surgeon, I had had a major back surgery and had to retire. I already knew what I wanted to do with my new leisure. For decades, really since Amory Codman in the 1920s, no one had made a serious effort to measure medical care quality or to try to improve it in a systematic fashion. A very few physicians had become acolytes of W Edwards Deming but their influence was very small.
The Frist family had sponsored one such small program at HCA in the early 90s, run by Paul Batalden but one of the first actions by Rick Scott, when he wrested control of HCA away from the Frist family, was to terminate all those programs that did not directly contribute to the bottom line. We know how his adventures with Columbia-HCA turned out and it is depressing to see him buy the GOP Senate nomination in Florida.
Anyway, the election gave me an opportunity that might never come again. I went to Washington and talked to a lot of people, helped by Senator Gregg’s office (He will be greatly missed). What I was told uniformly was “Forget it !” I was willing to work for nothing as an intern or minor staff member. I was a big enthusiast for health IRAs, a fact that cost me a good grade on a project when Elliot Fisher showed me how objective he is. In Washington, I was told by knowledgeable people that any health legislation, such as IRAs, would be written by tax lawyers. They were totally uninterested in the participation, even at a low level, of a physician with 30 years experience and a graduate degree in health economics. It was business-as-usual squared.
I hope this time is different. I think it might be.
Don’t despair, Madison can surprise you. I lived there for 5 years. I remember with amusement when Madison elected a republican congressman in I think it was 1988. The national commentators on CNN were stunned. One of them said something like “but Madison is the little Kremlin on the Lake”.
Michael, please make that a separate post. It is important. This is precisely the kind of thing that needs to change. Ask for readers to put in the comments links to any groups that are trying to do what you were trying to do.
Dan, Madison is a great place to visit. I was up there for work for a while, when my oldest kids were 18 months and 3 1/2. Ice cream cones out in back of the student union on the lake. I went to daily mass at an old, grey stone church near the capital. A very happy time.
Here’s the church, Holy Redeemer.
Here in the 77’th Wisconsin Assembly District, there is a slew of candidates seeking to replace the retiring Spencer Black (D-Madison, WI), who has long championed environmentalism along with other causes.
I am big on whether people “walk the talk”, and if considers oneself an “environmentalist”, electric power use is perhaps the biggest discretionary contributor to atmospheric CO2 emissions. In this climate, you can only dial the heat down so much, but there is a lot one can do about household electric use, and to me, if someone makes the environment or global warming an issue, it indicates a certain lack of seriousness to use a lot of electricity — the “Al Gore’s Mansion” effect.
Monthly avg kW-hr from (http://www.mge.com/myaccount/averagecost/)
kW-hr Candidate
371 Spencer Black (D — retiring incumbent)
379 Dave Redick (R)
540 Brett Hulsey (D)
618 Fred Wade (D)
705 Ben Manske (Green Party)
805 John Imes (D)
1431 Dianne Hesselbein (D)
My neighbor, Madison Alder Mark Clear, features a Brett Hulsey yard sign, and a Dianne Hesselbein volunteer accosted me doing yard work, a looked in the direction of the Clear house with their sign, told the volunteer “I am not supporting Dianne Hesselbein because she uses nearly 3 times as much electricity as Brett Hulsey” to which the volunteer hustled over to the next block.
But mind you, the Republican Dave Redick is doing better than any of the other candidates.
Lex,
Fun Fact: the Ice Cream (Babcock Hall Ice Cream) is made on campus with dairy ingredients from the University’s own Dairy Herd.
I can understand the isolation. I was there as a student and a worker. The default PoV was leftists.
I spent a day wondering why people were glaring and swearing at me, until I realized it was the campaign button in 1988 I wore (example: “Al Haig? F*ck you fascists!”).
The Left is loud in Madison, and the volume generated makes the numbers seem more.
I plan to vote for Ron Johnson over Feingold. What Feingold has going for him is that while he is left-leaning, you have to admit, he has had no stench of corruption on him anytime in his career. He is clean at least.
“I plan to vote for Ron Johnson over Feingold. What Feingold has going for him is that while he is left-leaning, you have to admit, he has had no stench of corruption on him anytime in his career. He is clean at least.”
Mr. Feingold clean? Make me laugh. What about his convenient slander-by-proxy, of protestors ringing the Capitol in Madison calling Jim Moody a friend of Slobodan Milosovic, in the election that elected Feingold to the seat. So much for you holier-than-though anti-war stance, you picked sides in a war Mr. Feingold — that of the Ustashe.
Both Senators are Democrats and pretty liberal too, but of the two of them, Herb Kohl is “the adult” and when they part ways, Mr. Feingold can be counted on to take the goofy position.
What about the Governor’s race — any endorsements or recommendations?
McCain-Feingold?
Paul – I think the governors race will go to the republican nominee, whoever that may end up being. I think Mark Neumann is going to come up short to Scott Walker, who is running a great “Brown bag” campaign in the media. He has pledge to lower taxes and that is good enough for me. With the larger candidates for higher office I don’t have a very complicated matrix of choice – pretty much guns and taxes and that is great.
Lex – for all its faults, Madison is a great place to live, and when you talk to people who are from outside the city like the surrounding communities, they are rather pleasant, not the leftist drivel that you typically get from the city folk.