FALL 2020 PUBLISHED BY THE BADGER INSTITUTE The myth of inherently violent cops (and offenders) Pages 18-25 Media helps oversimplify Violent offenders Sen. Ron Johnson on affordable housing problem without the violence national debt lunacy BY KEN WYSOCKY BY JULIE GRACE BY MICHAEL JAHR EDITOR /Mike Nichols In a truly horrible year, perhaps there have been planted the seeds of miracles Publisher Badger Institute aybe it’s human nature that the Matter doctrine into the minds of Mil- Editor Mterm annus horribilis is more a part waukee Public School students. Mike Nichols But our issue is much more than a of our modern lexicon than its counter- Managing Editor part, annus mirabilis. recitation of horrors. Our cover package Mark Lisheron But it wasn’t always so. makes the case that neither police nor The term “annus mirabilis,” literally most of the offenders who end up in our Art Direction Helf Studios meaning “a miraculous year,” has been prisons are as violent as you’ve been around since the Seventeenth Century. It told. Contributors is thought to have described the wonder- While there’s certainly potential for Ike Brannon Julie Grace ous developments of 1666 when 23-year- enormous conflict over the upcoming Patrick Hughes old Isaac Newton made a new future election, you’ll see in Mark Lisheron’s Michael Jahr possible with his discoveries in the fields story about absentee ballots there’s also a Mark Lisheron of calculus, physics and optics. way to restore faith in how we go about Donovan Newkirk “Annus horribilis” has only been choosing our leaders. Mike Nichols Ken Wysocky around for 35 years, when a writer for Restoring faith in the “mainstream” The Guardian used it to describe the hor- media, in the meantime, could be a much Photography rors of 1968 — the year Martin Luther tougher lift, according to Ken Wyscocky’s Robert Helf King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were as- excellent piece on housing policy and Board of Directors sassinated and the deadliest year of the how it is covered by the Journal Sentinel CHAIRMAN: Tom Howatt Vietnam War. and other papers. It’s never good form to compare Yes, it’s been a tragic year. There’s no David Baumgarten tragedies and deaths. But 2020 surely glossing over it. Tragedies are apparent Ave Bie Catherine Dellin qualifies as an annus horribilis — with while miracles take time to reveal them- Jon Hammes the COVID-19 crisis, violent protests, selves. Perhaps it is the same with years Gail L. Hanson skyrocketing government debt and of horror and wonder. Corey Hoze the potential for electoral turmoil. We Newton had so much time to work on Jason Kohout his world-altering discoveries of 1666, ac- David Lubar provide ample evidence in the stories Lisa A. Mauer you’ll find inside. Read Michael Jahr’s cording to one of his biographers, because Bill Nasgovitz interview with Ron Johnson for a sense the Great Plague forced his school, Cam- Jim Nellen of just how big a hole America is digging bridge University, to close the year before. Maureen Oster itself. Think about that. Tim Sheehy Read Julie Grace’s piece on idiotic Mike Nichols, President protestors in Madison and their mindless Contact Us destruction. Donovan Newkirk shows ADDRESS: us who is trying to burn the Black Lives [email protected] 700 W. Virginia St., Suite 301 Milwaukee, WI 53204 MISSION STATEMENT/ PHONE: 414.225.9940 WEBSITE: www.badgerinstitute.org Badger Institute EMAIL: [email protected] Founded in 1987, the Badger Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) guided by the belief Social Media that free markets, individual initiative, limited and efficient government and educational Follow us on: FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN opportunity are the keys to economic prosperity and human dignity. TWITTER: @badgerinstitute 2 DIGGINGS CONTENTS photo Cover photo / Robert Helf Badger Briefing: Here’s Police use of Mike Nichols column With the police in retreat, the view what we’re hearing… force rare here from a Fond du Lac Avenue stoop Numbers from the front lines in our What happened in Kenosha is an is pretty bleak. battle with the coronavirus and the anomaly, defying the critics’ charge .......................................................................23 Badger Institute’s latest work. that police violence is systemic. ................................................................................5 BY PATRICK HUGHES & MIKE NICHOLS......18 Stealing from our Civil War hero canceled Q&A with children Madison protesters sacrifice symbol Sen. Ron Johnson’s wake up call for a of abolition, equality and freedom for Kevin McMahill new era of federal spending insanity Black Lives Matter dogma. The undersheriff of the Las Vegas and its consequences. Metropolitan Police Department dishes BY JULIE GRACE.................................................6 BY MICHAEL JAHR.......................................26 on a cop’s toughest call: if and when to use force to apprehend a suspect. MPS not done Pandemic population BY MIKE NICHOLS..........................................20 with BLM at School push? The district failed to fund the curriculum Violent - a matter Wisconsin’s small cities offer an and the teachers, but some MPS escape for suddenly mobile believers are pressing on. of definition metropolitan workers long cramped The state labels thousands of offenders by a viral lockdown. BY DONOVAN NEWKIRK.....................................9 violent when they’ve never committed BY IKE BRANNON..........................................32 an act of violence. The wrong prescription BY JULIE GRACE.............................................22 Raising the minimum wage is an overly simplistic way to make housing more affordable for low-income people. BY KEN WYSOCKY...........................................12 32 State readies for absentee ballot crush Wisconsin Elections Commission is confident that ballot tracking and barcoding will mean smooth and secure voting. BY MARK LISHERON.......................................16 • For additional articles, recent policy papers, videos and news from the Badger Institute, go to www.badgerinstitute.org. 3 GIVE THE GIFT OF A FREE WISCONSIN – free from onerous taxation, overregulation and burdensome debt The Badger Institute invites you to make the prosperity of our state part of your long-term plans through a gift in your will or estate plan. Legacy gifts permanently unite you to our mission to protect the principles of free markets, limited government, individual initiative and personal responsibility that are essential to our democratic way of life. How to give: For more information or to let us know about a will or estate gift, contact Leave a donation of a particular dollar amount Development associate or a portion of your estate by including Kirsten Golinski the appropriate language in your will. at 229-894-4496 or email (“I give and bequeath the sum of $______ [email protected] to the Badger Institute, Milwaukee, WI.”) Or designate the Badger Institute a beneficiary of a charitable trust, retirement account or life insurance policy. Badger Briefing: Here’s what we’re hearing ... See more at badgerinstitute.org Adults ages 30.0% COVID-19 DEATHS 50 to 80 who Wisconsin ranks used telehealth services st among 4.0% 41 states 22 people per 100,000 May 2019 June 2020 at end of September (before Covid-19) Source: University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging At the end of July, the death rate was 15 people per 100,000, but the state’s ranking dropped eight places. Of Wisconsin Sources: Wisconsin Department of Health Services; 247WallStreet restaurant in operators...1 3 “It’s an emotional roller coaster. $500 I’ve cried with the million respiratory unit, I’ve cried with managers. I cry at Cost estimate say it’s unlikely they’ll still be home. I’ve seen for a new 1,200-bed in business early next year nurses crying openly maximum security prison if business doesn’t improve – from a report commissioned in the hallway.” by the state of Wisconsin from current levels. – Melissa Resch, a nurse at Aspirus Wausau Hospital, Source: Badger Institute’s Source: National Restaurant Association national discusses the coronavirus burden “State budget realities make new survey Aug. 26-Sept. 1 prison construction unlikely” report % 2004-2019 11.7 Supplemental Security Income (SSI) The second biggest average decrease in the monthly rent for a one bedroom apartment + % + % over the past year in the 30 16 nation’s 100 largest Wisconsin U.S. overall cities was in Madison. Source: Badger Institute paper by Dr. Angela Rachidi on W-2. Source: MagnifyMoney study 5 Hans Christian Heg Civil War Hero – Madison protesters CANCELED sacrifice symbol of abolition, equality and freedom for Black Lives Matter dogma AP PHOTO Graffiti on the pedestal from which protesters pulled down the statue of Union war hero Hans Christian Heg. The statue (right) lost its left leg and its head while being dragged and dumped into Lake Monona. Once refitted, state officials intend to return Col. Heg to his place in front of the Capitol. By Julie Grace t’s a revolution!” someone shouted in the darkness at the Lake Monona shoreline. On June 23, a crowd of protesters pulled a 1.5-ton bronze statue of Colonel “I Hans Christian Heg from its pedestal on the east side of the Capitol building, dragged it down Main and Butler streets and pushed it into the lake. The crowd erupted into cheers. Protesters, ostensibly taking to the streets over the death of George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers, were tearing down monuments all over the country. At first, it was Jefferson Davis and Gen. Robert E. Lee, the most prominent reminders of the Confederacy and slavery. 6 DIGGINGS Hans Christian Heg author and historian Theodore C. Blegen noted for the Wisconsin Magazine of History in 1920. As a boy, Hans Christian Heg and his family immigrated to Muskego from Nor- way in 1829. He developed a respect for American ideals and an interest in politics.