Ron Kind says he wants to leave the United States House of Representatives after 26 years on a hopeful and optimistic note. But that is hard in the current political environment, he made clear during an \u201cOn the Issues with Mike Gousha\u201d program Wednesday (Dec. 1, 2021).<\/p>\n
The state of American democracy is \u201cvery fragile,\u201d he told Gousha, Marquette Law School\u2019s distinguished fellow in law and public policy. He said that on Jan. 6, 2021, the nation was \u201ca majority away\u201d from having an armed overthrow of the government when people stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop Joe Biden from being formally declared to be the president. He said that if Republicans had been in the majority, there likely would have been a major constitutional crisis.<\/p>\n
More generally, Kind, a moderate Democrat who has represented western Wisconsin in the House since 1997, said, \u201cUnquestionably, our politics have gotten very toxic in recent years.\u201d That is hard for someone like him., he said, because he has always tried to have good relationships with members of Congress from across the spectrum.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow it\u2019s more about destroying the other side, demonizing them, making people fearful of the other party,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we\u2019re in a very perilous time for our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kind said President Donald Trump and his administration \u201ctook us to a very dark place\u201d characterized by authoritarian tendencies and lack of respect for citizens. He called Trump \u201ca narcissistic bully.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he also criticized Republicans more broadly and said the party needs to purge itself of the characteristics Trump encouraged. Kind said \u201cone party\u201d — he didn\u2019t use the word \u201cRepublican\u201d — is trying to convince people that diversity is something to be feared. \u201cIt is so easy to divide people along racial lines,\u201d he said. In his view, diversity is \u201ca source of great strength\u201d for the country.<\/p>\n
His biggest concern, Kind said, is that \u201cwe have a lost a factual basis, a common set of truths in this country.\u201d He said, \u201cAn alternate reality has been created for factual matters where you can make things up.\u201d The biggest example is what he called \u201cthe big lie\u201d about who won the presidential election.<\/p>\n
Good government, he said, requires give and take and compromise and too many new legislators in both Washington and Madison are not willing to do that.<\/p>\n
Kind said he is proud of a lot that he has accomplished in his years in Congress. He said his decision not to run for re-election was not based on concern he would lose in the 2022 election. He won narrowly in 2020 and Trump carried the district by a large margin. Kind said when he announced his decision that he had \u201crun out of gas.\u201d He has a year left in his term and he said he has not made plans for what to do after that. He said he intends to stay in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
The full interview with Kind may be viewed by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n