Milwaukee Post
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/537114
July 3, 2015 • Milwaukee County Post • 9 OPINION By JOHN TORINUS There is another dimension to the federal lawsuit filed by former Wisconsin Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson to keep her chief's epaulets for a few more years. It is the broader issue of how long politi- cians should be allowed to stay in office. Abrahamson has been a justice for 39 years, the longest term in state history. She is the longest-serving chief justice in the history of the country at 19 years. But she is short-timer compared to Sen. Fred Risser, a Madison Democrat who has held his safe seat since statehood. Well, that's an overstatement. It only seems that long. He's been in the Legislature for 60 years, which makes him the longest-serv- ing legislator in the history of the United States. Ironically, Madison is supposed to be the home of progressive thought in the state and country, but holding office for life can only be seen as regressive. Fresh ideas and geriatric political records don't match up. Do these political dinosaurs use smart- phones? Society gains by using the experience and wis- dom of its elders (I have to take that position, because I am one). But that doesn't mean they should stay in the same gig for decade after decade. Businesses rotate their executives to keep them from getting stale and the companies on the cutting edge. Wisconsin legislative leaders and voters got a constitutional amendment passed to correct the automatic award of the chief justice job to the most senior justice. That's a step in the right direction, but how about a bolder move? How about term limits on all political jobs at the state level? Thirty-six states have some limits on gov- ernor terms, and 15 limit legislative terms. But, in 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in a 5-4 decision attempts by states to limit congressional terms. And a GOP-led push in Congress in the 1990s for term limits came close but eventu- ally failed to get enough votes for a consti- tutional amendment. Gerrymandered congressional seats became safer and safer, so there has been no recent push by incumbents to limit their own longevity. Life, pay and perquisites in the seat of power are good. There are many reasons to follow other states for limits on state offices. For one, term limits blunt some to some extent the impact of big money in elections. You can't buy a politico for life if there are term lim- its. For another, turnover creates the possi- bility of fresh thinking from the next gen- erations of candidates for office. There must be something in our water that encourages Wisconsin pols to hang on for decades. Rep. David Obey retired after 42 years in Congress. Rep. Tom Petri stepped down after 38. Rep. James Sensenbrenner has been in office 39 years and counting. They will carry him out. Russ Feingold served for 18 years in the U. S. Senate and 10 years in the Wisconsin Legislature. He is now running for another six-year term in the old boys' club. The federal fix is in, but there is room for reform at the state level. Two ten-year terms on the Wisconsin Supreme Court should be plenty. The common denomina- tor for legislative tenure in states with term limits is 12 to 14 years. Let's be progressive and follow their lead. It's a time for another Wisconsin consti- tutional amendment. (John Torinus is chairman of the board of Serigraph Inc. in West Bend and blogs regu- larly at www.johntorinus.com. His column runs occasionally in the Post.) Governing shouldn't be a career without term limits Shades of gray in Confederate flag debate BY JESSICA MCBRIDE The Confederate flag debate moved very fast. In a shortened time frame, there became only one acceptable answer when debating it. Those who want the Confederate flag to remain flying (or who wish to buy it at Walmart) better not voice that opinion or they will be in big trouble. Just notice all of the politicians whose viewpoints on the flag started tumbling like dominoes in the span of a day. As with many things in America, the debate quickly went too far, though. People started advocating against movies like "Gone With the Wind" or shows like "The Dukes of Hazzard." And Apple removed video game apps containing the Confederate flag in Civil War strategy games. It's silly to remove strategy games depicting a historical time period. These are games that were removed: Civil War: 1862, Civil War: 1863, Civil War: 1864 and Civil War: Gettysburg. What else are they going to have Confederates fly in 1862 dur- ing a Civil War battle? I can only imagine what else this could lead to. Forget games like Grand Theft Auto. And Call of Duty? Better remove those from the app store because they have Nazis in them. The pos- sibilities are endless. Political correctness shouldn't stand in the way of historical accuracy. And, in the case of "Gone With the Wind" or the Duke Boys, going after literature, TV, or film because it's controversial (or depicts an odious way of life) is a slippery slope indeed. Of course, the hatred exhibited by the South Carolina church mass murderer wasn't caused by the Confederate flag. Flags don't cause murder any more than guns do. However, and this is a big however, the mass murderer wrapped himself in its symbolism, and the flag represented a cul- ture in which violence against blacks was tolerated as a matter of practice and law. This is obvious. The media did seem like they were play- ing a flag gotcha game. The gotcha game is designed to "expose" the racist beliefs and/or pandering to voters with racist beliefs on the part of Republican candi- dates for president. It's about the fact that South Carolina matters in the presidential election. That doesn't mean they don't have a point when people twist themselves into pretzels to avoid stating the obvious: The flag stood for something very wrong (slav- ery) as well as rebellion from our govern- ment. Gov. Scott Walker, as has been his typical approach to such questions, punted the flag question originally, saying he wanted to give the families a chance to mourn. Then, after Republican Gov. Nikki Haley joined other conservatives in calling for the flag's removal, Walker concurred. Which begs the question of why it was wrong to com- ment because of the families' grief one day, but not the next. The governor then claimed Haley's office had asked him to hold off on commenting. Which begs the ques- tion as to why Gov. Walker even asked Haley before speaking his own mind. This all creates a picture of political calculation. I don't want to know what Haley thinks. I just want Walker to answer the question. If he wants to be the leader of the free world, he should be able to answer these kinds of questions by telling us what HE BELIEVES. That's the way out of the media gotcha game. People respect people who speak with certitude and, if he says something we disagree with, at least we know who we're getting. All of that being said, I believe South Carolina should remove the flag. It belongs in a museum. I don't really care about the debates about it being a battle flag or whatnot or the fact it stands at a Confederate memorial (I'm surprised that's still standing), and I don't care that much about people who argue it has alternate definitions including Southern pride. That's because it is incontrovertibly true that the flag stood for a horrific way of life in which other human beings were enslaved, a way of life those who fought under it sought to preserve. Was the Civil War about other things? Maybe, but slavery was so odious as to forever define it. That's like saying the Nazi flag isn't so bad because Nazism wasn't only about the Holocaust (a ridiculous statement). The Holocaust and slavery were so bad that you can't remove them from the symbology. In a way, Dylann Roof's violence was an exten- sion of the violence perpetrated against blacks during slavery. I think, thus, the flag question is simple. It should not be removed from historical depictions that attempt to capture what it was like in a certain historical period. Leave literature (and video games) alone. But if Walmart and eBay and other private companies don't want to sell it, that's their call. It's another thing altogether when it flies on public property outside a state- house in a way that connotes honor. The statehouse belongs to all, and all should be comfortable visiting it. The flag should go. Twisting that into political correctness is minimizing the horrors that occurred while it flew. I'm surprised it took so long. (Jessica McBride is a Merton resident and journalism instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her opinions are her own and don't represent UWM.) McBride Torinus