Itâs a very bright history.
Bet that is a surprise to the citizens of Milwaukee.
Undoubtedly so. Even though it was 100 years ago.
Victor Berger had a socialist machine in Milwaukee that dominated the cityâs politics for years. It was not exactly the Socialist International, however. As one of my teachers explained, it was very centered on German-Americans. If someone came to Berger and said, âIâve got a great candidate for Alderman in the Third Ward, George OâConnor,â Berger would say, âOâConner? Why canât you find someone with a good American name, like Schimmelfennig?â
As many of you no doubt know, Berger was elected to Congress in,I think, 1918, but the House refused to seat him because of his socialist beliefs.
As we all know, âSocialismâ is just a pejorative for anything that conservative republicans donât like. Thatâs how Romneycare- the free market healthcare alternative- became âsocialismâ when Democratic President Obama fashioned it into Obamacare.
Can we also get some free publicity for the La Follettes and Wisconsinâs glorious Progressive history, back when Republicans were Progressives?
Why do they hate their own largest city? Getting the impression that the GOP doesnât like urban folks.
âMilwaukeeâs âHistory With Socialismâ Makes It âObvious Choiceâ For DNC.â
Says the guy whose Party let the Kremlin write their platform.
The Wisconsin GOP had their convention there last year.
Jesus, these people are ignorant. Fightinâ Bob LaFollette was a Republican progressive and one of the most famous people in WI.
I used to consider my grandpaâs side of the family pretty boring, til I found out his uncle was a close friend of Bob La Follette. (And it turned out there were lots of interesting family secrets that probably explained why we didnât hear a lot about that part of the family as kids.)
To be fair, the hotel rates the GOP was quoted in Pewaukee were just too high.
Sad.
And is it any wonder the Kids These Days arenât scared off by the S-word anymore? At least theyâre telegraphing their 2020 strategy, so we can be prepared:
Socialism: Not nearly as scary as your crazy uncle makes it sound!!!
Itâs like if Republicans decided to hold their convention in San Diego and Democrats attacked them by linking the city to capitalism and smearing them both. And if they thanked Republicans for helping out the economy in California with all the money theyâre bringing because they didnât understand how snark works.
Like yeah, ok. I see why the people in your choir are singing praises for what youâre preaching, but to everyone else youâre making a case for the other side. Seriously, they spent eight years making socialism look better by linking it to the most popular politician on the planet and now theyâre sharing the wealth by linking it to every Democrat they can. I remember when âliberalâ was the dirty word. Now weâre all socialists whether we like it or not.
Thinking the same thing. Nothing like shitting on their own.
Iâm a left wing socialist antichrist beatnik (reformed). And pleased as punch about it.
I still remember a National Geographic article on Milwaukee I read as a kid back in the 70s (It might have been older. It used to be illegal to throw them away.) They had a picture of the socialist mayor (not sure if he was currently serving).
But the thing that struck me most was that many neighborhood intersections had a tavern on each corner. Thatâs a lot of taverns! They were not bars like we had in our town.
They were places families gathered in the neighborhood. We had nothing like that in suburban Boston. It sounded magical to me.
Theyâve gerrymandered and purged away the power of Milwaukeeâs voters, so they donât even pretend to care about them anymore.