President’s note introducing the 2027 Mandate for Madison
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 who 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 public-sector unions should politicians overturn Act 10.
- Thousands of people working in jobs that are made possible by policies such as right-to-work.
- Tens of thousands more Wisconsinites 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 who 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, a return of cops to 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.
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 rather than insults. Every successful candidate will find a copy of the complete Mandate on his or her desk come January 2027.
We work for no one other than the citizens. We don’t take money from either the government or any political party. Never have and never will. Instead, we are ever grateful to supporters who want to see the Badger State prosper through individual aspiration, civil society, healthy markets, limited government and true freedom.
This project is as much a product of their hard work as ours — and we are thrilled to make it available to all those, no matter their political affiliation, who strive to make this state a place where everyone can flourish.
Mike Nichols
Badger Institute President
