Francesca Hong, the Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate, is no ‘sewer socialist,’ unless that term no longer has meaning.
Ramesh notes, in light of Francesca Hong’s democratic-socialist candidacy in Wisconsin, that Elmer Benson of Minnesota was the first socialist governor (and the man to blame for the DFL), all the way back in the 1930s. But before that even, beginning in 1910 and continuing for much of the next three decades, Wisconsin was home to the country’s two socialist mayors of consequence, Emil Seidel and Daniel Hoan. They would no doubt be shocked to see what passes for a Wisconsin socialist now.
During his four-year term, Seidel, a woodworker and athletic-club member, outlawed brothels and casinos and commissioned parks. Hoan, a failed restaurateur-turned-lawyer, is credited with cleaning up Milwaukee’s accounts and crime, using amortization schedules and meritocratic compensation models. These “sewer socialists” were, in other words, serious about the civic and financial health of Milwaukee . . . something that cannot be said about their delusional descendants.
Jeff summarizes:
Hong continues to lead in the primary, all while sporting the trendiest DSA positions. As a Madisonian she voices them loudly: She is running on a platform of providing free universal childcare, abolishing ICE, installing a data-center moratorium, and “taxing the rich.” She doesn’t like Israel, she doesn’t like guns, and she is a self-described “sewer socialist.” In other words, she has all the “youth energy” in this race and then some — but Wisconsin doesn’t vote for kids. Thus, the Democrats are sweating through their undershirts in fear that she will seize the nomination and then tank what otherwise would be an easily winnable general election in November.
While, like Hoan, Hong is a failed restaurateur, she settled for part-time bartending while being a full-time activist (which is to say, Madison’s representative).
Unlike Hoan, Hong imagines a better world without police:
I support defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police.
Jacob Blake is fighting for his life but he shouldn’t have to be. We must also fight for his life and get justice for all those harmed by state-sanctioned violence.
Black Lives Matter
— Francesca Hong For Governor (@FrancescaHongWI) August 24, 2020
But perhaps Hong and Seidel are more closely aligned?
Sex work is not criminalized because it’s dangerous; it’s dangerous because it’s criminalized. @ahunt4congress is speaking truth to power to fight against stigma.
Follow @rightsnotrescWI to learn more about the fight to improve the lives of folks in the sex trade in WI. https://t.co/jsD8SZrIKq
— Francesca Hong For Governor (@FrancescaHongWI) March 1, 2022
Knowing the skinflintedness of Germans and Irishmen, I would take some delight in recording what Seidel and Hoan would say about Hong’s $30,000 in unpaid credit card debt. But it’s best for everyone that time-traveling socialists are rare.
Hong is no sewer socialist, unless that term no longer has meaning. At most, the UW-Madison journalism dropout is a sewer cosplayer. After eight years of almost uninterrupted victories, it will be an indicator of Wisconsin Democrats’ decline if they cannot defeat such an obvious poseur in the primary.