Mike McCabe for Gov

Unscrewing America: Mike McCabe’s Guide To Much-Needed Hope & Pathways To National Renewal

“We don’t need to worry about greatness. We do need to concentrate on goodness, now more than ever.” By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (7/27/20) After reading a firsthand account of a university professor shot in the head and a Vietnam veteran sprayed in the face with some kind of debilitating spray by government storm troopers in Portland in the past day or two,  it is a bit of a task to find something positive; something hopeful. Fortunately, Mike McCabe’s latest book “Unscrewing America: Hints And Hopes From The Heartland” is filled with examples of practical hope. McCabe, who…

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Mike McCabe: Freedom Is To Do What Is Right By Wearing A Mask To Keep Our Neighbors Safe

True freedom is more than individual liberty. With freedom comes the responsibility not to hurt others with our actions. By Mike McCabe Our Wisconsin Revolution (7/7/20) Watch and weep. One man interviewed by a reporter who was berated for wearing a mask at a crowded public gathering insisted that being an American means “I should be able to do what I want to.” A woman told that same reporter that having to wear a mask is “against our constitutional rights.” No, it’s not. The U.S. Constitution is silent on mask wearing. And freedom doesn’t mean doing as you damn well please….


Mike McCabe: Another Sign Politics Have Failed Us All

Something’s got to give. By Mike MCabe Janesville Gazette (5/23/20) Even a simple act like wearing a face mask while out in public during a pandemic is fast being weaponized politically. Polling shows a significant and growing gap in mask usage among Republicans and Democrats as masks have begun to be seen on the right as a symbol of passively submitting to government authority, while on the left they are seen as a sign of compassion or consideration of others. Heaven help us. When the decision whether or not to take a widely recommended precaution during a public health emergency…


Mike McCabe: A Nation In Distress & Crippled By Corporatocracy

It all comes down to sovereignty—the question of who rules. By Mike McCabe Our Wisconsin Revolution (4/20/20) Our nation’s founders were racist, sexist, elitist and quite a few other ists. Some more than others. But they had something else in common. They hated being under the King of England’s thumb. At the time, monarchs were thought to have a divine right to rule, a mandate from heaven. To think otherwise was to deny providence. Rather than continuing to submit to royal decrees, the founders chose to deny providence. These slaveholding aristocrats did a radical, revolutionary, heretical thing. They redefined the…


It’s Groundhog Day (Again) For Democrats

How do you ever win by making unilateral concessions? It’s Negotiation 101, people. Never compromise with yourself. By Mike McCabe Wisconsin Our Revolution (3/4/20) Democrats are awfully hard to figure. I hear what they say they believe in and what they say they want to do. But when in power they rarely if ever do those things. Theirs is a scared party, an apologetic party, a play-it-safe party. When is the last time you heard a Republican apologize for anything? Some years back, establishment Democrats got spooked by the L word. They’ve been going to great lengths ever since to shed…


A New Book From Mike McCabe: Unscrewing America: Hints & Hopes From The Heartland

Little Creek Press Anyone puzzled by the state of the union had better carefully study places like Mike McCabe’s home state of Wisconsin. Clues to solving the riddle are hidden there. Unscrewing America explores how and why American politics has taken a turn toward madness, and describes how and why so many Americans have come to believe the nation’s best days are in the rear-view mirror. But the book doesn’t dwell on diagnosis. It emphasizes cure. Unscrewing America is part travelogue, part case study, part manifesto, part how-to guide. At the book’s core is the belief that the best solutions…


Will We Ever Learn? Crony Capitalism Deals Like Foxconn Sells Us Off To The Corporate Scammers

  By Mike McCabe Blue Jean Nation (2/27/19) America worships at the altar of free markets. Except we don’t actually have free markets. We have politically manipulated markets. We have crony capitalism. Corporate titans schmooze politicians and play the elected representatives of the American people for chumps. They play states off against others, they pit communities against each other, promising investments and jobs in exchange for tax breaks, outright subsidy payments and exemptions from environmental regulations. Whoever is the highest bidder, whoever serves up the juiciest cuts of corporate welfare, is declared the winner. The real winners are the big corporations who…


Mike McCabe: A Curtain Rarely Pulled Back On The Number One Political Issue Nobody Wants To Ask Politicians About

  It’s time to ask the question. By Mike McCabe Blue Jean Nation (2/13/19) While running for governor, I took part in close to 50 candidate forums leading up to Wisconsin’s August 2018 primary election. Some were sponsored by interest groups, others by the media or a party organization. Some focused on a single issue. Education. Economic development. Environmental protection. Criminal justice. Agriculture. Racial equality. Transportation. Energy policy. Other forums covered the waterfront, with questions on a variety of subjects. In all those forums combined, participating candidates were asked well over 200 questions.  Three were about money in politics. Never…


Heaping Helpings Of Democracy From Blue Jean Nation

    Blue Jean Nation (2/1/19) If ideas are what nourish a democracy, then Blue Jean Nation is a food pantry with fully stocked shelves. On our Seat of the Pants blog, there are close to 130 articles on every imaginable subject, from improving health care here at home and nationally to making college affordable. There is an article titled “The party of big government” (and it’s not the one you might think). Another is headlined “Our small politics” (about the need to think big). Back in August 2015, a commentary was posted on our blog explaining whyDonald Trump might very well become president. That was…


Blue Jean Nation – It Ain’t Euchre, Tony: Gov. Evers Needs To Hold On To His Trump Card

    By Mike McCabe Blue Jean Nation (1/16/19) Wisconsin Democrats entered a euchre player in a high-stakes poker game. We’ll see how that goes. Early signs are worrying, though. I don’t know much about euchre. Played it a couple of times as a kid. Seemed like a nice, friendly game. But I couldn’t wait to get back outside to play ball. When I was willing to sit long enough to play cards, it was usually poker. It took no time to learn it’s generally a good idea to hold on to aces. The euchre player just discarded one, making an early concession to…


Filmmaker Frank Capra Warned Us: Facing Down The Challenge To Our ‘Wonderful Life’

  America feels more and more like Pottersville. By Mike McCabe Blue Jean Nation (12/21/18) I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched Frank Capra’s beloved 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life. Must be north of 40 anyway. Yet it has a way of hitting closer to home with passing year. The movie’s battle of wills between public-spirited George Bailey and greedy Mr. Potter has always symbolized conspicuous social and economic tensions between America’s privileged rich and struggling working class. But with the gap between the rich and the rest widening and the country’s middle class losing ground, and with hate on the…


McCabe: Take Our State Government To The People

Wisconsin governor candidate Mike McCabe said today that, once elected, he will periodically take the governor’s office on the road, bringing cabinet secretaries and other agency officials with him to give people in urban and rural areas of the state alike greater access and more of a voice in state government. “People shouldn’t have to travel to the State Capitol to be heard and served by their state government. It should come to them,” McCabe said. “For many in our state, it’s not practical or affordable for them to take off work to make a trip to Madison, so they…


Mike McCabe Plan Outlines Way To Fund Critically Needed Addiction & Health Care For Wisconsin

  Mike McCabe for Governor Campaign Website (3/20/18) Wisconsin governor candidate Mike McCabe today fleshed out his position in favor of fully legalizing the possession and use of marijuana by detailing a plan to tax legal sales and use the new source of revenue to fund expanded treatment options for those struggling with opioid and methamphetamine addiction and make higher education more affordable. Even before announcing his candidacy on September 12, McCabe publicly supported legalization of industrial hemp production as well as medicinal and personal use of marijuana. “Current drug laws have proven ineffective, counterproductive and racially discriminatory. Those who…


A Commoner Writes — Mike McCabe Gives Rousing Progressive Rallying Call To State Democrats

  For all of us who have ever been interested in Mike McCabe’s concern for the health of democracy in our State of Wisconsin, I can say that I heard the best speech I have ever heard him offer this past Friday as I sat in the assembly of the Wisconsin Democratic Convention in Oshkosh. He was given 5 minutes to speak, and he used 4 minutes and 57 seconds to deliver these 700 words. I believe that they are a powerful distillation of Mike’s 20-plus years of political activism and his decades of dreaming for a better and healthier…


Mike McCabe Calls For ‘fix ‘em first’ & ‘pay as we pave’ Policies On Our Roads

  Just another stretch of Hwy. 14 running through Vernon County, between Readstown and Viroqua. Mile after mile of cracked n’ crumbling Wisconsin republican blacktop.  McCabe for Governor (5/1/18) Wisconsin’s roads and bridges are deteriorating badly and the state needs a whole new approach to strengthening its transportation infrastructure that prioritizes fixing existing roads before expanding or building new ones and paying as we pave to end excessive borrowing, governor candidate Mike McCabe said today as he called for bringing back automatic adjustments in the gas tax for inflation to keep revenue in line with road expenses. Of all the…



It’s Official: Veteran Government Watchdog & Reformer Mike McCabe Is Running For Governor

“Now is not the time for same old, same old. I’m running to shake up and transform the political system and get our government working for all of us and not just the wealthy and well-connected.” – Mike McCabe From the Clark County farm where he grew up, veteran government watchdog and democracy reform advocate Mike McCabe  announced Tuesday he is running for governor to shake up and transform Wisconsin’s corrupted political system. “Wisconsin is up to its eyeballs in problems. Same goes for our country as a whole. The problems grow out of political and economic inequality. Our society…


Mike McCabe: The Taproot Of Our Many Problems

By Mike McCabe Blue Jean Nation (8/15/17) Wisconsin is up to its eyeballs in problems. Our state has lost its way. It is becoming a shadow of its former self. Same goes for the country as a whole. The problems vary from place to place. Go to Trempealeau County and you see hills and bluffs disappearing and hear fears expressed over the effects of breathing the fine dust that hangs in the air or drinking water that has turned an amber color. In the Central Sands region you see lakes and streams drying up because a few are being allowed…


Mike McCabe: Democrats Will Win Again When. . .

  By Mike McCabe Blue Jean nation (8/7/17) Over the course of my 57 years, I’ve never seen a time when our public institutions were more disrespected and distrusted. And with good reason. I’ve also never seen a time when government was less responsive to regular people. Over and over, our government is put to work for a privileged few, the wealthy and well-connected. People notice this. They realize their own voices aren’t being heard and their own interests are not being served. That’s a sure recipe for disrespect and distrust of public institutions. These conditions are especially poisonous to…


Mike McCabe’s Pathway To The Gubernatorial Campaign Began In A Muddy Clark County Cornfield

  “We gotta be there for each other and help each other in restoring a political culture we can be proud of.” By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (7/27/17) Mike McCabe grew up on a small family dairy farm along a gravel road in rural Clark County, Wisconsin. That experience formed his view of the world in many ways. As a youth he participated in two barn raisings for neighbors. One had lost their barn to fire and another to a tornado. “I saw people from miles around come to build those barns in a day,” McCabe recalls. But…


Mike McCabe: Four Steps To Turning Around Wisconsin’s Creaky, Unfair Economy

  By Mike McCabe Blue Jean Nation (5/9/17) When it comes to Wisconsin’s economy, those in power go to great lengths to direct everyone’s gaze at moderating unemployment in the state. They don’t want to acknowledge or discuss that while it’s possible to find work, for many it’s extremely hard to find work that enables you to make ends meet and stay in the middle class. Persistent stagnation and rising inequality are big parts of the full story of Wisconsin’s economy. For years now, Wisconsin has depended on an economic development strategy devoted to empowering a few thousand of the…