Progressive Thinking

GREEN BAY - If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That seems to be the Republican motto when it comes to keeping those pesky Democratic voters from voting. A few years back, they invented the great “voter fraud” epidemic, with no real evidence that it ever existed, to justify a voter ID law in Wisconsin. Since many more poor people, espec ...

GREEN BAY – I have been listening to the “debate” coming out of our nation’s capitol all day on CNN and just can’t help but comment. Today, the Republicans in the House voted to hold the budget of the United States hostage so that they could make a statement about ObamaCare. They would fund the budget but not the implementation of the Affordable C ...

A few months ago Burke wasn't on the radar screen of possible Democratic candidates for governor in 2014, and now she seems to be the hand picked candidate pushed by the party establishment. But having family money and running with the country club set have not been known to buy you love in traditional Democratic circles. GREEN BAY - According t ...

GREEN BAY - Maybe, if you don’t look at it, it will go away? That seems to be the conservative stand on the Affordable Health Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare. In Washington, the right wing in the House has voted 40 times to kill ObamaCare, while the pressing problems of the nation like job creation and immigration go unanswered. Governor Sc ...

GREEN BAY – The American Legal System boasts that it gives the accused the right to a trial before his or her peers. Unfortunately for justice, it sometimes does not guarantee the same right for the victim. Such was graphically the case in the trial of George Zimmerman last week in Florida for the murder of Trayvon Martin. In case you were vacati ...

We can bridge a divided nation by reflecting on our own attitudes and behaviors, but it’s also up to elected officials to be truthful and honest and restore trust in our democratic process. MADISON - Now is the time when our government should be focusing on our COVID-19 recovery. Wisconsin leaders should be fixing the unemployment insurance c ...

MADISON - Last Saturday, I was invited to speak to the Madison Civics Club. Originally, I was going to talk about how to make democracy work better in Wisconsin. But after the rightwing putsch on Jan. 6, I knew I had to talk about the threat from the far right in our country. Here’s the video of my talk, which lasts for the first 20 minutes o ...

Sen. Smith writes about the beginning of the 2021-22 legislative session and the lack of compromise we’ve seen from Republican leaders thus far on COVID-19 relief. MADISON - Last Monday, on January 4th, the Wisconsin State Legislature began the 2021-22 legislative session. New members were sworn in and all elected officials looked ahead to the ...

MADISON - Like you, I’m outraged about the mob that ransacked the Capitol yesterday, and I wanted to share with you my thoughts on what happened, so here they are: I Was Not Surprised by the Mob Assault on the Capitol As you may know, we’ve been chronicling the threat that Trump has posed to our democracy since he went down that escalator five ...

Years after Republican leaders and Foxconn executives made a one-sided deal, there’s still nothing to show for it, forcing taxpayers to cover the cost. We must negotiate a new deal to properly invest in Wisconsin’s future. MADISON - Over time, relationships can go sour. When it happens in one’s private life, the breakup can be agonizing; so mu ...