Elections are not what matter most in this state.
What — and who — matters most:
- Eighty thousand kids in parental choice and public charter schools who won’t have hope for the future if those schools are defunded and forced to close.
- Hundreds of thousands more children in public district-run schools who want a better life but need higher standards and committed teachers and cops in the hallways.
- Millions of taxpayers who can’t afford to give even more to the ever-growing government, or to unions should politicians overturn Act 10.
- Thousands of people working in jobs made possible by policies such as right-to-work.
- Tens of thousands more who will never be able to afford a place to live if the state imposes rent caps or doubles down on regulations that increase home prices.
- Thousands of teenagers who will not be able to enter the work force if the minimum wage is hiked to $20 an hour, a surefire way to eliminate jobs.
- Countless retirees and small business owners who want to stay here but can easily follow their friends to Florida, where the sun shines and the taxes are far lower.
These are just some of the people impacted by policy decisions in the state that we so love — and the reason we’ve spent the last year working on the 2027 Mandate for Madison.
Four years ago, our initial Mandate for Madison was chock-full of research and ideas that have helped make Wisconsin a better, more prosperous place. The 300-page book helped set the stage for dental therapists, putting cops back in schools, a more stable justice system and more funding for choice and charter schools.
As you’ll see in the preface penned by our vice president of policy and research, Ben Eisen, we’re publishing a lot of new ideas and research this time around but also reminding all Wisconsinites that we cannot afford to abandon key, free-market victories like Act 10 and right-to-work and school choice.
We undertake this project for all Wisconsinites interested in how we make this state a better place, and for elected officials who want to focus on issues now rather than insults. Every successful candidate will find a copy of the complete Mandate on his or her desk come January of 2027.
A lot of comments and promises were made on the stump. Now it’s time to govern — and remember that the newly elected are not there to serve special interests or serve donors. They are elected to serve the children and taxpayers, young parents and workers, retirees and twenty-year-olds alike.
Each vote will have a consequence and we will be there to make sure all Wisconsinites get the fair shake they deserve.
Mike Nichols is president of the Badger Institute.
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