I’d been thinking about writing a post about the “Save the Train” rally in Madison (which I did not attend) ever since I heard it was happening. Why did I not attend? Well, there are a ton of reasons, not the least of which is General Apathy (and Major Boredom), but primarily… I’m just totally opposed to 1-sided political rallies at this point and I’m not real anxious to jump into a go-team sort of event at this point.
but, you say, this wasn’t about Democrats v Republicans! This was about the train!
Ah, yes. The train. Wisconsin Democrats support it for a variety of reasons, chief amongst them that liberals support the train. and Republicans, you get yours too: vehemently against the train because that is what Republicans do this year.
More evidence? Well, I won’t get too deep but how about:
Republicans: If you don’t want the train because it represents all that is bad about the tax-and-spend federal government, then trying to take the money but diverted to the roads… which is… you know… still taxing and spending… probably not the way to go.
Democrats: If you want the train soon – because it’s good for the long-term health of the universe – having a “look at all of us liberals who want the train!” rally is about the worst thing you could do. A guy just became governor-elect largely with the understanding that he was shutting down the train. If you want the train to happen in the short-term, which is at least my understanding about what this rally was for, saying to everyone who voted for Scott Walker that “should he go back on his word and let the train happen: we will claim a huge victory” is really not the way to go.
Look, getting the train project on track (<– ahahaha, "on track"!) in the short-term is a very long shot. The democratic leadership knows that — and they also know that while their base wants the train — what politicians on the left side of the aisle need is to be (re)elected. So, while they could drastically change approach on the train to try to make it actually happen (and likely fail), it's way way better for them to let the Republicans stop the train – highlight how they are foolishly throwing away stimulus money that (whether you like it or not) WILL be spent somewhere. Point out that it's yet another case of the right-side favoring gasoline to long-term sustainability. Nobody fights wars for trains. Highways aren't profitable either. Yada yada. It's not that all this stuff isn't true – or maybe it isn’t, I don’t know – the point is: whatever you believe and whatever you want to happen: short-term solutions aren't in the best interest of the party.
Sure the party wants wins, but what they really want is wins at key moments. Wins that they can ride into elections. Now is not the time for such a win for the Democrats. and so, the power is actually on the Republicans side. It would take a huge undertaking for them to approve the train in such a way that they could frame it as a good thing for their base, BUT if they could pull it off they could come off big winners. Not only getting a project done that (in this longshot scenario) they want, but also taking a big future-chip off of the oppositions pile. and this is the reason that the Democrats have to pump it up to the point where it would be such a clear and huge win for the Democrats that even though we're so far from an election, they could STILL claim it as a huge win when the time comes.
Of course, the cloudy picture I paint is still cloudier. Politicians not only make a living by getting elected — at some level, they do it because they want the world to look the way they like it. Which does mean that every once in a while a win's a win and they'd take it even if the timing could be better.
This is why folks shouldn’t be surprised when a rail-backer who has the gall to admit Republican tendencies gets booed at the rally. The rally isn’t for the rail — you don’t point out how many liberals want something in order to convince one conservative to join the gang. The rally is to rebound from a rough year and get the party on the same page so when the rail money officially gets turned away: we’re all ready to elect Democrats to correct the injustice.
Of course, we all know what the biggest injustice with the train project getting shutdown is… they were going to redo my favorite intersection as part of it.
