Vote!

Earlier this year, I took a trip to Northern Wisconsin to visit a close friend and hang out for the weekend. On the way back to Milwaukee, we stopped to gas up the car near Black River Falls. I detailed going into this truck stop full of racist and misogynistic flair in a previous post titled, Sweet and Sour in Wisconsin. This morning I was reading an article in the Washington Post about how Ron Johnson is pushing racial divisions in his closing message. In that message, he tells this story about how the people of this community pulled together to help an immobile truck. The most important point of the story is that the truck driver was black. Why would Ron Johnson bring this moot point to the forefront? One, he is running against Mandela Barnes who is black. Two, this is done to assure White voters that Barnes is wrong about systemic racism being a concern in Wisconsin. It panders to White people’s idea that America isn’t racist. Plain and simple. Ron Johnson is basically saying, “ignore all the messed up stuff I did to try to dismantle democracy and feel good about yourselves not being racists.”

In my opinion, race doesn’t have any place in today’s political system. Regardless of who anyone votes into office, racism will continue to be an issue and thorny subject in America. Nobody can do away with false equivalencies, conjecture, and innuendo when it comes to race. White people will continue to believe that by helping a black truck driver, they have addressed the issue of race full stop. Pan to a black Trump supporter wearing a Make America Great Again hat and it’s an open and shut case that there is absolutely no racism in America. If we already know this to be true, then why are we talking about it in the waning days of the election?

Candidates really need to focus on the issues and earn each and every vote they receive. How are Wisconsinites made whole? They are made whole through the election process by sending a Senator to the Capitol to fight and pass legislation that benefits all of their constituents. According to the editorial board of the Journal Sentinel, Ron has no business being Wisconsin’s Senator. Ron Johnson is playing Uno with Wisconsin voters and telling them to draw +4 and their turn is skipped. This is how he got to his second term in office. He then puts down a draw +2 in 2022 to make the next voter Draw +6 so Ron Johnson can get to his third term as senator from Wisconsin. He’s been doing this for twelve years. He’s only plays uno with red cards and makes up all the rules as he goes. Someone needs to check this guy with a Wild and reverse the color from red to blue. I hope Wisconsinites play this card tomorrow and don’t hold on to it for another 6 years.