FALL 2017 Our frozen melting pot ...and who’s responsible The left’s cultural appropriation complaints put a chill on unity BY AARON RODRIGUEZ Madison’s goofy, divisive, flag flap BY MIKE NICHOLS Act 10 savings Daniel Kelly’s journey The festering mess torpedoed to the Supreme Court that is Illinois BY DAN BENSON & JULIE GRACE BY DAVE DALEY BY JAY MILLER EDITOR /Mike Nichols Badgers persevere — and adapt e’re not the Badger State because of For decades, the editor of Wisconsin Interest Publisher Wthe animal — beloved as it is. We’re the was Charlie Sykes — the longtime conserva- Badger Institute Badger State because back in the early 19th tive radio host in Milwaukee and a widely Editor century, impatient lead miners burrowed like respected and prolific author. In fact, this Mike Nichols badgers into the Wisconsin hillsides and slept edition includes an excerpt of Charlie’s latest there instead of taking time to build homes. book, “How the Right Lost Its Mind,” along Managing Editor Mabel Wong They wanted to get to work. They lived in with an opposing perspective by Hoover the same ground they mined — a practice Institution research fellow Bruce Thornton. Art Direction that today would no doubt result in visits Charlie has been a friend to me and WPRI Helf Studios from HUD, OSHA, the EPA, the DNR, DHS, for decades, and all of us here deeply appre- Contributors the Department of Safety and Professional ciate his long stewardship of Wisconsin Inter- Robert S. Anthony Services, the local building inspector, the est. He is quite simply one of the smartest Dan Benson Burial Sites Preservation Board and a dozen and most incisive people I know. Thank you, Dave Daley protesters singing “Solidarity Forever.” Charlie, for all that you did here. Richard Esenberg Luckily, those “badgers” persevered. This new magazine is, of course, named Julie Grace For 30 years, the organization that pub- Diggings — and not just because that’s what Jay Miller Mike Nichols lishes this magazine has dug deep in a differ- badgers do. Good journalists dig as well. Aaron Rodriguez ent way. In an age of increasingly superficial The difference with us here at the Badger Charles J. Sykes tweets and posts, the Wisconsin Policy Institute is we’re going to try our best to dig Bruce S. Thornton Research Institute has done the time-con- straight down instead of — like many of our suming, expensive policy analysis that has brethren in the mainstream media — mean- Photography Allen Fredrickson helped shape the direction of the Badger dering toward the left. I will serve as editor of Jeffrey Phelps State. We are recommitting ourselves to that this new magazine. I’m incredibly lucky to be today. But we are also forging ahead in this able to say that Mabel Wong will be our man- Board of Directors new age with new initiatives and (you no aging editor. Robert Helf, our graphic artist, CHAIRMAN: Tom Howatt doubt have already noticed) new names. will make us look good. We will continue to “WPRI” has served us well for years — even use the best freelance writers in Wisconsin, David Baumgarten if we sometimes are confused with a TV national voices and, increasingly, Badger Ave Bie Catherine Dellin station offering “all the coverage you can Institute journalists and researchers. Jon Hammes count on” in Providence, R.I. But it no longer Speaking of which, you’ll be stunned, aggra- Corey Hoze encompasses all that we do, and it doesn’t vated and amused by the reporting, stories David Lubar adequately express our deep attachment to and new features you’ll find in the pages Bill Nasgovitz the state. WPRI now has transformed itself ahead. If those aren’t enough, check out our Jim Nellen into the Badger Institute — a name that brand new website, BadgerInstitute.org, Maureen Oster Ulice Payne Jr. reaches back to the industrious miners of for much more reporting and research, our Tim Sheehy long ago but also moves us forward in new policy papers, as well as information about Mike Nichols, President directions. Badger Institute events. Contact Us The magazine you’re holding is part of this We hope you enjoy this inaugural edition. reinvention. If you’re reading it now, it’s likely Please let us know where else in this great ADDRESS: 633 W. Wisconsin Ave. you used to receive Wisconsin Interest, our state you’d like us to dig deeper for the next Suite 330 prior publication. time around. 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TWITTER: @badgerinstitute DIGGINGS CONTENTS /Departments Editor’s Note Badgers persevere – and adapt BY MIKE NICHOLS .......................… INSIDE COVER Badger Briefing Numbers & Nuggets .....................................… 2 Mike Nichols Madison’s goofy, divisive, flag flap BY MIKE NICHOLS….......................................... 23 Frontlines Taking a seat: A profile of Daniel Kelly BY DAVE DALEY ............................................…..35 Culture Con How times have changed for conservatives BY RICHARD ESENBERG .................................. 40 ALLEN FREDRICKSON PHOTO CONTENTS /Features Cover illustration by Robert Helf Act 10 savings torpedoed The future of Foxconn Federal regulations force school Wisconsin’s huge investment hinges on the districts to spend that money or ever-evolving world of display technology face funding cuts BY ROBERT S. ANTHONY............….................18 BY DAN BENSON & JULIE GRACE ................… 4 Our frozen melting pot The shameless chase The left’s cultural appropriation complaints keep Americans separated for federal money rather than united Private contractors help states grab more BY AARON RODRIGUEZ ............................… U.S. dollars at the expense of serving 22 children and the poor The Age of Trump BY DAVE DALEY .............................................… 8 Contrarians must push back against nativ- ist authoritarianism and return to conser- The festering mess vative principles that is Illinois BY CHARLES J. SYKES............…................... 28 And how tax reform and transportation Never Trumpers’ myopia keeps them upgrades can help Wisconsin take full from seeing the greater danger that a advantage Clinton presidency would have created BY JAY MILLER ............…................................13 BY BRUCE S. THORNTON ............…............. 29 Badger Briefing The influence the federal government “ has on our policy, procedure, educational GRANT$TANDING requirements, etc., is Project for 21st Century Federalism disproportionately high. — Business manager of a Wisconsin school” district, responding “We need to a Badger Institute survey to start thinking “I went to school, I paid my dues, about I worked hard, replacing no loans, started fuel this business with taxes.” money out of my own pocket. — Bob Poole, director of transportation policy My hands are tied, at the Reason Foundation, 1Percentage7 of arguing during a Badger child-care providers and it feels like Institute webinar that the shift to that are rated electric and hybrid cars will likely 4s or 5s on a I’m drowning.” “devastate” Wisconsin’s current 5-point scale in — Albert Walker, highway funding system Wisconsin’s owner of Imago Dei Barber Lounge YoungStar program, in Green Bay, telling the Badger Institute according to the that the state makes him Badger Institute’s pay someone else to Rating YoungStar manage his shop and report noting that “a lot of this red-tape stuff” 14 restricts former Percentage of Wisconsin public school officials who said in a inmates so that Badger Institute survey this “we end up going summer that accountability back to prison” would suffer if federal JEFFREY PHELPS PHOTO oversight were relaxed 2 DIGGINGS Badger Briefing 12,000 The net number of people that Wisconsin has lost through out-migration in each of the past three years, according to Tom Hefty, writing for the Badger Institute “What is Wisconsin supposed to do, disarm?” — Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce President (and Badger Institute in board member) Tim Sheehy, 1 20 arguing that competitive incentives Number of male inmates are essential to attracting 4th in Wisconsin’s prison businesses such as Foxconn highest system who are “lifers,” Technology Group of Taiwan in the U.S. according to the Badger Institute’s Unlocking Wisconsin’s total state-local Potential report, which tax burden per capita as a also notes that most percentage of income, according inmates will be out in to the Tax Foundation’s under five years Venture capital Facts & Figures 2017 report “companies spend lavishly to hire the smartest people to “I want to stay help them think in Wisconsin about which after graduating companies to to run Trimm bet on, and they are (Haircuts), instead often wrong. of leaving.” — Economist Ike Brannon” , — University of Wisconsin-Madison economics student arguing in a Badger Institute Samuel Haack, noting in a Badger Institute story that if the commentary that the State of Wisconsin Legislature does not approve professional Wisconsin should not be making licensure reform he likely will be forced to take his on-demand the $3 billion investment in the haircut start-up to a state that allows barbers and stylists to Foxconn LCD plant work outside