Like He Said

Yesterday afternoon, I walked through doors that hadn't seen my shadow in almost 17 years. Doors that saw me a lot in the five years previous.

I'd heard a lot about the City of Madison's plans for what is being called Judge Doyle Square, a two block area between the Capitol and Lake Monona. It's pretty much a dead zone today...but, if the City Council has the vision and political will that their predecessors did 20 years ago? Another game changer for Madison.

So, I attended the informational hearing and watched my old friend George Austin tick through the plan. Inspired. Needed. Smartly designed. And I thought about the line that "all politics is local."

While I know that they don't agree on much, I watched my Council digest the presentation, ask (mostly) thoughtful questions...and even applaud at the conclusion. And, I was transported back to those days 20 some years ago when I went head to head with some of my Alders.

Bert, Andy and Joe were my thorns...and through it all, they were my friends. They made me better. We shared laughs outside Council Chambers. I never wished them ill (well, OK...maybe the flu on nights of an important vote).

I remember Bert and I leaving a sub-committee meeting the evening after the Council voted at 3am, back in 1994, to ban smoking in restaurants. We joked that our wives were both on the opposite side of their sparing spouses on the issue and vowed that we four needed to do dinner some time. Sadly, I never followed through.

Despite it all, we all understood that we all wanted what was best for Madison. That maybe we weren't always right...but that discourse made us better. And, at the end of the day...it wasn't personal.

I thought of those days today as I sat in the Council Chambers. And, I thought about my friend Tim Morrissey's morning rant. That Politics Suck when one side does something good that both sides can agree on...and the other side trashes that good deed for political gain.

And, I thought to myself, State and Federal politicians are beyond help. They feed off the media and the media feeds off them. It's time to walk away.

We would all vote against most incumbants on principle if there were a better choice. But, given the state of politics at the State and Federal level, what rationale, intelligent, successful, competent individual would subject themselves to a world of ethically challenged media types and the drama queens that they'd have to work with?

I have friends that I classify as brilliant. Not in the rocket scientist definition...but in the "how-to-get-shit-done" definition. Not a one will run for public office. Nor would I. Why would we?

So...it comes down to local. We can't change Obama's elitism, Romney's lack of center, Santorum's bat-shit crazy ideas or Newt's unlikability. We can't change Walker's belief that he is the annointed one. We can't change the State Democrats' childish temper tantrums. We can't change shit.

Except locally. While I'm sure there are municipalities where the discourse is as toxic as it is up top, in most cases...it's not. Probably because the media isn't fanning the flames of discontent at the local level.

That's where we should put our efforts, my friends. Locally.

And when the State and Federal goofs have gone too far (and, despite the last year here in Wisconsin, it's clear they haven't)? Well...revolution is just a shot away.

Thanks, Tim...for taking me down this path. And sorry to those from around the world for which this was too Madisonian a rant. I swear tomorrow's will be more universal in scope...kinda.

Comments

[Tim Morrissey]

Thank YOU, Bill. We deserve so much better than the lot we're stuck with in the state legislature and our U.S. Congress.