By all accounts, Lori Compas exceeded expectations at Wednesday night’s debate with Senator Scott Fitzgerald. She had the support of roughly 3/4 of the crowd packed into the Jefferson High School auditorium, and she more than held her own. “I think it went amazingly well,” said Compas’ husband aka The Mastermind. But despite Lori Compas’ success, I left the auditorium troubled and more worried about the state of our state than ever before.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.” That was the most common sentiment echoed at the debate. The energy in the packed auditorium was palpable and many people were unable to control their emotions, despite the moderator’s numerous pleas to “respect the candidates.” All traces of “Wisconsin nice” disintegrated once the debate began.
I joked with friends that the free cookies provided beforehand probably should have been laced with some kind of sedative, but it really wasn’t a laughing matter. The fact that supporters of both candidates were unable to even listen to the candidates speak without yelling, hissing or clapping is troublesome.
It’s proof that the “divide and conquer” strategy has worked.
When Compas talked about the devastation created by job loss, a Fitzgerald supporter yelled out, “You want a handkerchief?!” The insensitivity of that remark caused Compas’ supporters to gasp and hiss and the situation devolved further.
At one point in the evening, a man was escorted out of the auditorium by a police officer because he was so upset.
A Fitzgerald supporter even yelled “Liar!” when Compas was explaining that there were divisions created by the Walker and Fitzgerald administration that needed to be bridged (which kind of proved Compas’ point).
But it was almost painful to witness the behavior from both Fitzgerald and Compas supporters.
Really, it doesn’t have to be this way.
Yes, lives have been forever altered because of political decisions made by the Walker and Fitzgerald administration. Yes, people have a right to be angry.
But we can take action to rectify the situation by voting Scott Fitzgerald out and Lori Compas in. That won’t solve the problem, it’s going to take much more than that, but it’s a start.
We are not doomed to forever be divided. We are not victims. We cannot control others, but we do have a choice over how we treat each other.
So, please, let’s follow Lori Compas’ lead and start treating one another with respect, regardless of political viewpoints, before “Wisconsin nice” is gone forever.
Video of the debate here.
Yes, we almost always have cookies at the political debates in Jefferson. Sometimes punch or soda. Usually no more than thirty-forty people show up.
As for the outbursts, the moderator can ask for no reaction but I don’t know if it’s reasonable to expect that from any politically charged crowd (or from any group of school kids, for that matter). There was a pro-union fellow sitting a few rows behind me who clearly wanted to hoot and holler. Similarly, there were ding-dong shouters among the Walker Walkers who huddled together in their section in the front. Humans in crowds do all sorts of stupid things to express themselves, especially when they feel motivated or want to prove their group cohesion to their buddies.
I think Compas is a moderate that people can get excited about. I hope there’s more of them running in the future. I think she’ll harvest more moderate Republican voters than Fitz.
Note that you can be Republican and decide you don’t want to be an arrogant, condescending ass. (Cough. Fitz.) You can admit that you’re not always going to get your way even if you are among an elected majority of your party. You can admit that you’re going to need to listen to your constituents. You can admit you’ll need to work with members of other other party. You can say you want to strive to be civil and to discourage the acrimony we’ve seen in the last two years. Moderation doesn’t play well to the Republican base who want to ostracize anyone who doesn’t toe their line. It doesn’t play well to hard-left Democrats who want the State to pay for everything for everyone, either.