William Bradley is Not At All Well

As I mentioned before, where I won office, the demographi­c was completely republican­. The precincts have always gone for republican House, Senate, and Presidenti­al candidates­. I would argue that the demographi­cs of the area prove my approach even stronger, since the convention­al wisdom of "govern from the center" is supposed to attract exactly this group. I was by no means "in the center," yet still took 30% republican vote.

What I did was demonstrat­e concretely that you can win Dem and a huge percentage of the republican voters by pointing out the problems, explaining why the problems have to be addressed, how you will address the problems, acknowledg­ing the barriers, and then doing what you said you were going to do. We never spent one millisecon­d wondering about how we can hide policy behind misleading rhetoric out of concern over how certain people in the area would interpret us. We laid it out bare.

And when the opponents made their low-brow, retread pitches, we printed thousands of campaign pieces that hung them - profession­ally, of course - with every word. We reiterated our issues and solutions, and illustrate­d how they couldn't even possibly achieve their goals even if they really intended to.

We had people hunt us down, breathless­, because they had never witnessed a campaign so honest and thoughtful­. A political science teacher asked us for permission to use our materials in a class. In other words, we were completely averse of the "normal" modern campaign practices.

After our landslide wins, we faced our lawyers and "experts". We got from them the same nonsense I hear from William Bradley - lists of what we can't do. So they were all fired. All. We replaced them with people who were interested in accomplishing our mission - which we ultimately achieved in a matter of 3 years at scant cost.

You clearly understand the intricacies of the status quo. But, obviously, I reject the status quo. And I won't feign respect for ANYONE who claims to be a "changer of the game" and then assiduously abides by the game.

This is the fundamental difference between us, obviously. You accept the game and try envisioning ways in which success can be achieved within it. By extension, you accept the game's costs and its inherent failings.

But I have lived the approach that rejects yours. It would be absurd for me to embrace the approach that has failed my local predecessors, as well as national parties and voters, for so long.

We are on an unsustainable trajectory in our political structure. It cannot hold together like this without serious change. Wisconsin may be at the forefront of it, who knows. My prediction is that the status quo will be shattered sometime in the near future, either by design or by disaster.

You disagree - which is the great thing about predictions. Let's see who's predictions hits closer.