Less Than Recent Developments in Progressivism

Firstly, I'd like to thank people for their generous comments, both online and in person. A few people were curious as to my "political background," since it's been a while since I've really appeared on the Madison political scene.

There are quite a few issues that certain parties love to see as being two-sided. One of the great things about being a crazy libertarian is that I know my party issues will never be huge on the political agenda, not that they're always big on my agenda either. Still, things stop being black and white and I'm less likely to vote on only one controversial issue.

Funny to think that being a foaming-at-the-mouth third party member has made me somewhat more receptive to various opinions. However, I've already covered that in an older post, so I digress.

If possible, I prefer to observe. Maybe it's my scientific background or the fact that I had systems dynamics beat into me for four years at UW, but I can't help but think that paying close attention is half of the battle. However, observation every so often brings someone to action. I've had my fair share of involvement, but I prefer to pick and choose my battles wisely. I've been around long enough to see a few Dean of Students come and go. I still remember being a Junior when Austin King ran for alderperson. He seemed almost sane then. However, things change, including the subject of my academic studies.

While I began in the rough-and-tough biological sciences, I grew tired of living in fear. I just couldn't bear the murderous looks I'd get in Biochem 501 when the person sitting next to me suspected I might have a higher class grade than her or him. I think a few very intelligent people disappeared that semester, and each time that happened the course curve bumped up a curious amount. Needless to say, after graduation, I switched to a more social subject.

Now I study the history of social interactions with science. A lot of this revolves around the progressive movement(s) and the idea of political change. Progress and its later political incarnation, Progressivism, have two different but related stories. One of the stories has a huge part of Wisconsin's development.

Now this might seem like a 'yay, I love Progressive politics' rant, but that would be a bit misleading. The problem with knowing about something is the realization that it has flaws. While my opinions are slowly becoming more liberal as the conservatives are becoming more insane, I can't say "Progressive" politics in Madison are all that sane either. In fact, many times the "Progressive" politics in Madison aren't progressive at all.

Call it a hunch, but there's a lot of real progressive ideas coming back, and a lot of things are more connected than people realize. The Wisconsin Idea Project, while originally a song and dance to get funding from the state, has had the happy occasion to actually get people searching for these progressive ideas. Funny enough, this relates to the Union South renovation and the introduction of social space on campus... which sounds a lot like the "Science Discovery Center" that's boiling right now. Furthermore, there were rumors of 'light-rail' stations that conflicted with these sites. State, City, and University politics are converging on one location at one particularly sensitive time.

Sound confusing? Well, it is. However, I'm hoping that in the next few years, the Progressive Dane party will stop being an unwitting pawn of a few, and let's admit it, not very progressive or liberal people, and will start being influenced by some of the larger issues at hand. There are quite a few truly excellent people in the party. Now, far be it from me to tell another party what to do, but it seems like the Dems and Danes would do a lot better to stop the infighting, get rid of the bad apples, and remember the things they have in common.

I know egos are on the line, but things are seriously going down and people should keep their eyes on the road rather than at their "opponent's" jugulars. If not, a seriously important time will simply fly by... and where is the progressive or Democratic value in that?