Vote! And then what?

Vol. 62

In This Issue: ESSAY | LISTEN UP | LIVE AND IN PERSON | NOW READ THIS | TAKE ACTION | WATCH THIS | FINAL FRAME

This essay originally appeared at The Recombobulation Area on March 28. Be sure to follow/subscribe - it’s a great resource for Wisconsin news and opinion!

If you’re reading this, I feel pretty confident that you are planning to vote (or already have) in Wisconsin’s April 1 election. I doubt you need me to make the case for you. There are so many good explainers and arguments just on this site alone that you can/should refer to for that.

Elections are important. They do, indeed, have consequences. Up and down the ballot, races for everything from the State Supreme Court to local school board will impact our lives in ways big and small. 

But there are still a lot of folks who don’t feel like voting makes a real difference, or who can’t easily access the ballot box. Their reasons are probably pretty diverse. There’s been a fairly successful campaign by certain parties to make elections sometimes feel like futile endeavors, politicians and politics far removed from the wants and needs of everyday people, and/or a choice between “lesser evils” that hardly inspires enthusiasm to take time out of your day to cast a ballot. 

There are also a lot of new challenges and barriers to even accessing the ballot box for many people. Republicans have spent the better part of the last decade or so systematically dismantling the Voting Rights Act (and are only ramping up their efforts with the introduction of the SAVE Act), and now Trump wants to require proof of citizenship for all new registrations, while placing significant restrictions on mail-in voting. All of this depresses turnout among elderly, disabled, rural, Native, Black, Brown, LGBTQ, etc. people, who are less likely to have access to birth certificates, passports, and other official IDs, and/or less likely to have easy access to in-person polling places.

All of that alone is a good reason to vote, and to do whatever we can to help other folks see the importance of voting and to ensure they have the ability to do so if they want. I would also argue that it’s just as crucial that we all think about how to help people feel more involved in and connected to their communities and actions that help empower regular people to make positive change (i.e. to participate in politics). It’s not a chicken-and-egg situation. It’s both/and, 24/7/365.

Voting is a fundamental right that we can’t afford to take for granted, but I feel like it’s also become the catch-all, the only real participation expected of us as citizens.

That narrow focus, combined with things like gerrymandered districts and the utter lack of campaign finance laws, all contributes to the very understandable sense by many that their votes don’t really matter, or saddles us with candidates who don’t feel like they will actually represent us in the ways we want.

All of which is why I’d love to see more messaging that emphasizes the both/and of it all: “Vote and then ____.” 

Vote and then run for local office. Vote and then start/get involved in a mutual aid network in your community. Vote and then check on and get to know your neighbors. Vote and then join your PTA. Vote and then write letters to your reps. Vote and then show up to community meetings. Vote and then volunteer for something good. Vote and then ask questions. 

What else would you add to the list? What else are you doing to help you feel plugged into your community? To hold your elected representatives accountable? Because voting is a great start, but it shouldn’t also be the finish line of our civic involvement.

All of us have something to contribute. It only benefits the already powerful few to keep us disconnected and dispirited about/from politics. So in the face of the massive power grab and authoritarian overreach of our present moment, it’s time to get more connected than ever. 

Have conversations with people who are on the fence about voting, or who to vote for, and really listen to their concerns. Offer them–and yourself–grace and patience and then some tangible ways to get excited about voting and to be more connected to their communities. Think about what they (and you) are interested in or have skills to offer towards, then find out who’s already doing it and get tapped in. Or start something that fills a gap!

We all want to feel like we belong, that we have some power to make change, that we matter. It’s high time we stopped looking for a singular person or entity to fix everything for us, while forgoing any of our own responsibilities to each other. I’d argue that’s how we got into the current mess we’re in. 

Instead, look in the mirror. Look around at the grocery store, the school, the neighborhood park. We are who we’ve been waiting for. It’s time more of us acted like it.

Listen Up.

I recently had the opportunity to join Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Wisconsin Today” show to talk all about current efforts to ban transgender kids (and adults) from playing sports. I tried my best to cover lots of points and think I did OK! I went in with the hopes of addressing people who might be on the fence about the issue but open to better understanding what’s really at stake. I hope I did it justice.

You can tune in to the full episode here, or scroll down and click into my specific segment.

Live and In person.

I’ll be in Minneapolis on Saturday, April 12 for a show with my band, LINE, and a several other excellent bands! We’re at a lovely little DIY venue called the Birdhouse, so if you’re in the area and interested in attending, please be sure to RSVP here. I’d love to see you there!

Now Read This.

“Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’” [Wired]

What did DOGE want with this kind of information? None of it seemed relevant to Musk’s stated aim of identifying waste and fraud, multiple government finance, IT, and security specialists told WIRED. But in treating the US government itself as a giant dataset, the experts said, DOGE could help the Trump administration accomplish another goal: to gather much of what the government knows about a given individual, whether a civil servant or an undocumented immigrant, in one easily searchable place.

“Mahmoud Khalil is a test case. The results will come to Madison.” [Christina Lieffring at No First Drafts]

The authoritarian playbook is to start with the smallest, most marginalized groups because they are counting on most people to either cave in, thinking it will stop the pain and they will be spared. Or that they will not care enough to act. But each test case, regardless of whether it's a win or a loss, teaches them what they can get away with and allows them to build the systems and methods to achieve their goals.

“There are two political movements in America right now” [Garrett Bucks at The White Pages]

You’re always allowed to say no. You don’t actually have to throw anybody under the bus. You can in fact say that the laid-off auto worker deserves sympathy, but so does the single mom on welfare and the trans teenager who loves volleyball and the Venezuelan family at the border.

“‘I’m Terrified:’ Trans-feminine athletes in their own words” [Dave Zirin for The Nation]

"If you’re not with trans people in sports, you’re not with trans people in general."

“The MercLab, a Madison DIY theater space, makes way for housing” [Lindsay Christians for The Cap Times]

The MercLab is dead. Long live the MercLab! I used to practically live in this shitty warehouse, rehearsing plays, seeing plays, napping in the loft, and one time holding the album release party there for my old band, in the middle of a blizzard. Sad to see it go. Really wish Wisconsin did a better job of funding the arts!

“AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism” [Gareth Watkins for New Socialist]

That even the best AI models are not fit to be used in any professional context is largely irrelevant. The selling point is that their users don’t have to pay (and, more importantly, interact with) a person who is felt to be beneath them, but upon whose technical skills they’d be forced to depend. 

Take Action.

This week’s featured action(s):

The National Abortion Access Fund-A-Thon is coming up and you can either donate directly or become a team captain to help raise money. The Wisconsin Abortion Fund is looking for peer-to-peer fundraisers to help out, and holding an event at Bowl-A-Vard Lanes in Madison on May 30 to celebrate! Find out more and sign up here.

“Wisconsin Abortion Fund (WAF) provides financial, logistical, and emotional support to people seeking abortion care. Our work is to cultivate collective care and to remove barriers to abortion access. We champion the self-determination of all people and foster a community rooted in compassion for the purpose of empowering abortion care seekers.”

Download and distribute these "red cards” from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center to leave at friendly local businesses and other community spaces and schools to help people know their rights and plan for potential ICE activity in their area. With the dramatic rise in people literally being snatched off the streets and detained/deported without due process, we all need to do what we can to help.

Watch This.

New crush just dropped:

Final Frame.

‘Til Next Time.

Thanks so much for reading. Please take care of each other.

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