We should get rid of the partial veto. Eventually.

Vol. 64.

IN THIS ISSUE: Essay | Now Read This | Listen Up | Final Frame

This essay originally appeared in The Recombobulation Area. Thanks, as always, to Dan for inviting me to contribute. Please be sure to subscribe over there for award-winning, Wisconsin-focused reporting and commentary!

Do the means justify the ends? It’s a question I’ve been wrestling with a lot in recent months, especially as MAGA Republicans gleefully push our country into full-blown authoritarianism.

What methods do we have at our disposal to fight back against those attacks? Clearly, the mainstream centrist tactic of relying solely on election cycles and misguided gentlemen’s agreements on “how things have always been done” aren’t cutting it. I believe those who want to live in a free, democratic society have to take off the kid gloves and start taking meaningful, direct action.

But how far is too far? And what tactics that we use now could come back to haunt us in the future? 

For instance, let’s talk about Gov. Tony Evers’ use of Wisconsin’s unique partial veto power, most recently to enshrine increases in funding for public school students over the next 400 years.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority just upheld that power. Those of us who want to see robust state support for our public schools and are sick of Republican foot-dragging and obstruction cheered the decision. Assembly Leader Robin Vos and many of his GOP friends, of course, wailed and gnashed their teeth over it: How dare a Democratic governor use the same constitutionally granted power as previous Republican governors to do something we don’t like!

That’s how it goes, though. The gerrymandered Republican majorities in the state legislature weren’t thinking about the future when they took full advantage of those powers (and created still others), only what they could do in the moment to bolster their position. They bent over backwards to boost the Executive Branch under Gov. Scott Walker, never seeming to realize that those same powers might go to a future Democratic office holder, or that their grip on power could be undermined by an eventual ruling that the maps they’d created to give them an unfair advantage could someday be ruled unconstitutional. Walker also used the partial veto with wild abandon during his term and we never heard a peep of complaint from his fellow Republicans about it.

So I can imagine it must be a special kind of galling to see Evers wielding the veto pen now to do something as radical as …*checks notes*... restoring state funding to public schools that had been largely cut under Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature, and ensuring that it will continue (long) into the future.

I am in favor of making sure our public schools have the funding they need to provide a quality education for all students in Wisconsin. And I’m not alone. Wisconsinites passed a record number of school funding referendums in November 2024, authorizing $4.4 billion in new funding. Republicans have ignored that desire, however, opting instead to create tax cuts that have almost entirely benefited the already wealthy and advocating for shunting money into problematic school voucher programs.

But I still can’t help thinking that no one should have the kind of power to fundamentally alter the content and intent of legislation currently available to Wisconsin governors. Just like no party should have the ability to fix the district maps to lock in a superficial majority. While we’re at it, perhaps it doesn’t make sense to elect judges, or at very least, to allow for outside spending in their races. I could go on….

Just because one party does it, doesn’t make it right when the other party follows suit — no matter how much we support the end result. Without guardrails, eventually, the tool gets used as a weapon.

Then again, maybe facing down the rise of fascist-leaning authoritarianism isn’t the time for my high-minded ideals. I have frequently wished for a greater willingness by those on the left to get down and dirty in the fight when our fundamental rights and well-being are at stake. Now definitely feels like the time to use the means at our disposal to fight for what’s right.

Still, I hope we don’t lose sight of the big picture. I hope we look at those times in the past when Democrats enjoyed full control of the legislature and governor’s office and failed to repeal the state’s outdated abortion law or pass any number of other progressive reforms that might have helped shore up our rights — and instead elect people who will take the project of democracy more seriously.

Someday, when we’re not in the middle of an actual national emergency, that’ll have to mean amending the constitution to kill the partial veto.

Now Read This.

“The consequences of oppressing diversity” [Philip A. Loring for Ecologist]

The more time I spend contemplating it, both as a scientist and a queer man, the more I believe that queerness is the best concept we have for comprehending diversity. Not queerness in the sense of sexual preference, but queerness as a rebuke of the notion that nature is characterised by simple consistent patterns like male and female or straight and gay.

“Abolish Age” [Devon Price]

The number of years that a person has spent on the planet doesn’t tell you much at all about what they are capable of. Development just isn’t linear.

“Know Their Names: The Gaza Red Crescent paramedics Israel attacked” [Al Jazeera]

Bear witness.

“Send this John Oliver segment to anyone still confused about trans athletes” [Parker Molloy at The Present Age]

John Oliver did something surprisingly rare in mainstream media: he dedicated 42 minutes to a thoughtful, well-researched segment on transgender athletes in sports that cut through the hysteria and political opportunism dominating this conversation.

“How to survive all this” [Lyz Lenz at Men Yell At Me]

For so long, the prepper and survivalist space has been dominated by a rugged vision of off-the-grid, bootstrapping, Mad Max narrative. But real survival, realistic survival, happens through strong communities and friendships.

Listen Up.

I had the pleasure of interviewing my friends in Madison-based indie pop band Kat and the Hurricane about their (excellent) new album and upcoming tour. Give it a read and then check out the record - and catch them live! I can’t recommend them enough. 

Final Frame.

Made it out to one of my favorite places on Earth last weekend: Hemlock Draw is a nature preserve in the Baraboo Hills that is best visited in spring and fall. Right now, it's filled with ephemeral spring flowers like hepatica, bloodroot, and large flower bellwort, and migratory birds are just beginning to arrive. It's like wandering into a fairyland. Don't sit on this one - go visit soon!

‘Til Next Time.

Hold each other close. Fight back. Free Palestine.