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Hi, I’m Sue Ellingson. I’m a political and environmental activist in Madison, Wisconsin. And I’m a vice-chair of the Dane County Democrats.

I encourage you to join the Democratic Party of Wisconsin! Please click here.
For the Dane Dems website and what’s happening in Madison, click here.

You can contact me by e-mail or call 259-1824.

The Democratic Message

“If you call 911 in yellow-dog Democrat St. Paul, Minnesota, the cops or the EMTs will arrive within 4 minutes. In the Republican suburbs, where No New Taxes is the beginning and end of politics and emergency services depend on volunteers, the response time can be anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes.

“This is the difference between Democrats and Republicans, when it comes right down to it. Republicans are all about Old Glory and school prayer and the sanctity of marriage, but when it comes to actually needing help from them, you shouldn’t get your hopes up. They might send an ambulance or they might just sent a Get Well card.” *

Only Garrison Keillor could say it so vividly.

I’m a Democrat.

I am sick to death, fed up to here, with the bitter and passionate diatribes of friends who believe that the Democrats have no message. I set out to find the Democratic message. This is what I have found.

We Democrats talk a lot about issues. Too much. It’s hard to resist because the issues are so urgent and compelling. And most Americans agree with Democrats on issues.**

Take public education. Think what a radical and wonderful idea it is that everybody, from Maple Bluff to Allied Dr., deserves a good education. That as a society we have commited to making this investment in all children and giving them a chance to lead a successful life.

This has never happened before in the history of the world. Ruling classes have never considered helping the poor to get ahead.

Today the Republicans are deliberately bankrupting public education. The ruling class will save a couple hundred bucks on property taxes. And you can bet you last nickel that when public education ceases to exist, the rich will still send their children to good schools. Some of the middle class will get by and some won’t. And the kids who really need our help the most--well who gives a damn about them anyway?

This un-American. I’ll go so far as to say it’s unpatriotic--a word the Republicans are fond of throwing around. Educated citizens are the lifeblood of our democratic republic. We believe in equal treatment and equal opportunity. Democrats believe in equal treatment and equal opportunity.

I could go on and on about the issues. How fair is it to our grandchildren to let global warming destroy the planet--just so the oil companies can make a good profit? How can we sleep at night knowing that we deliberately deny basic health care to 47 million people--just so the insurance companies can make a good profit?

But it’s a trap, talking too much about issues. People don’t decide who to vote for based on issues. They vote based on gut reaction. They vote for politicians who speak from their heart, who have a grand vision.

The Republicans’ grand vision is to provide for individuals. They subsidize the rich and abandon the poor. They do this in the name of encouraging self reliance, but the results are the same.

Democrats have quite a different grand vision. It is this: That Americans care about the common good and we will work to provide for the common good. That the strong will protect the weak and not victimize them. That we will ask not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for our country.


* Homegrown Democrat, by Garrison Keillor, p. 10-11.

** Being Right is Not Enough, by Paul Waldman, Ch 3.