The Issues

by Adam Murphy

Some party leaders require loyalty pledges from candidates. I won’t do that. My loyalty is to the citizens — all citizens. Will we always agree? No, but you deserve more from a Senator than a red, white, and blue meme and a sound bite about freedom and liberty.

Below, I offer brief comments and thoughts about certain issues. For some this is enough to vote for or against me. However, I sincerely hope you will dive a little deeper with me and allow me to earn your trust because of how I think, not just what I think. I ask you to trust me to do the work, and then present you with honorable and viable solutions, not useless partisan tag lines.

I am a practical moderate

To begin with though, regardless of the issue, I believe in protecting citizens’ individual liberties from coercive and restrictive laws, while promoting smart economic policies that benefit society. I believe those go hand-in-hand to improve lives and  stimulate growth. My family, friends, and employees call it, “Adam Math.”

So, in preparation for running for office, I went back to UW-Milwaukee at the age of 47 to study specific topics I think politicians should actually know about — economics, logic, moral problems, constitutional law, ethics, political psychology and philosophy, statistics, etc. (I even took stand-up comedy lessons so I could learn to deal with hecklers!) I am not claiming to be an expert. I am claiming to be willing to study, learn, listen, and discuss. I’m willing to ask, “What if I’m wrong?” and I am willing to change my mind.

Democracy

46 does not equal 64

Defining a “fair” democracy is difficult because when it’s truly fair, it looks unfair to both sides. The fact is, political gerrymandering in Wisconsin is extreme — the worst of all 50 states. Wisconsin is a purple state, voting nearly 50/50, but district lines were literally drawn to ensure Republican control. The GOP won 64% of the legislative seats in the last election despite getting only 46% of the vote. I don’t care about being “fair” to any political parties. I care about being fair to all Wisconsin voters regardless of which party they vote for. Look, 46 does not equal 64. That’s not math. That’s cheating. A non-partisan group must draw the maps, not politicians.

Healthcare

Healthcare should be a basic American right, and to do that, separating health insurance from employment is necessary. Here’s why. First, the unemployed can’t easily get affordable coverage. Second, low-wage workers, who need health care as much as anyone, can’t access the same quality of care. Third, people should not make job choices based on healthcare benefits over wages and opportunity. Finally, small businesses suffer due to high costs and the inability to reach a larger employee pool. It is an everyone-loses situation. It is bad math for citizens, businesses, and the economy.

Here’s my backstory, and this is only one small aspect of the challenges surrounding healthcare and health insurance. I own a small business that provides health insurance for our employees and pays 100% of the premiums. I had two employees with the same job and salary, but one was single and younger, the other, older with two covered adult children. The difference in their premiums was $10,000 a year.

Who was this fair to? One employee was being compensated $10,000 more than the other. The business was not getting $10,000 more value, and it would have been unethical and illegal to not offer the same benefits to both employees because of their age and family status.

Worse math - what about the roughly 40 million people recently unemployed because of Covid-19? So, let’s start with this... Can we agree that healthcare should be a right?

Civil Rights

Restrictive laws should be based on the actions and choices of people, not their simple existence. Laws restricting the liberties and freedoms of women, people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, etc. are the most anti-American laws in existence. They are an offense to the Constitution, and I promise to fight against them. Let’s stop punishing black people for being black, immigrants for fleeing tyranny and war, our neighbors for loving each other, and women for having sex. Honestly, how is this still an issue in 2020?!

Race relations, police and the community

I find it baffling and tragic that the same battles my parents’ generation fought are still being fought today in cities and protests around the state. Those we entrust with the greatest power — the literal power over life and death — must be held to the highest standards. I call on officers, departments, unions, and political leaders, to recognize the roles they played in the past, and to unify behind smart reform. There is no math to this one. There is only respecting our fellow citizens. It is not sufficient to “not be racist.” Instead, we must embrace being “anti-racist.”

Let’s start here, with “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” from Emmanuel Acho:

Labor unions

I am a business owner and capitalist at heart, but true capitalism requires transparency. Organized labor helps provide that transparency. I support the right of workers to collectively bargain, and will fight for the rights of working people. Organized labor is beneficial to individuals, and it is beneficial to the economy because a strong middle class is necessary for growth. Capitalistic transparency is good math all around, especially as we re-define what “essential employees” means to society.

Business

Business Migration

Small businesses are critical for full employment and economic growth, and the path of business is changing right before our eyes. The previous administration failed to recognize the obvious changes Wisconsin businesses would be facing in the information age. As proud of our manufacturing and farming heritages as we should be, the brutal truth is a politician’s job is to anticipate and guide for the future, while protecting the present — not blindly wishing for the past. For example, pushing for greater dairy production while dairy demand decreased, was backwards-wishing math. We need to help family farms transition so instead of being lost, we can help family businesses grow and succeed.

Business infrastructure investment

Working remotely will be the new norm, and investment in office space will likely fall dramatically as demand falls. So, internet access must be considered a public utility. It is a necessary investment for individual and economic growth and success, and that is at home, at work, at school, and in outlying areas. This is easy math.

Practical small business investment

I know the challenges small business owners will face when starting out, because my wife and I have built small businesses. I’m watching my wife’s travel business get decimated due to the pandemic. Overall, 20% of small businesses fail in the first year and over 50% within 5 years. Financial support has its place, but If we also invest in providing critical business resources in marketing, as well as banking, legal, accounting and insurance issues — critical topics for every small business owner — we can improve those numbers dramatically, and that’s great math.

Education

K-12

Tanya and I do not have children, and so I approach thinking about primary education from the outside, not the inside. What I do have is a decades-long background in training, and I appreciate how critical learning is to individual success and to our success as a society. 

Higher education levels lead to less crime, higher wages, greater satisfaction in life, and a host of other measurable benefits. Yet each community is different, and so we must find that mix of accountability and consistency, and match it with creativity and flexibility. Let’s start with internet access and technology for every student. It’s smart math.

We need great teachers for every classroom, and every kid deserves a great school. We need to ensure strong support for our public education system, and we need to really decide whether building two or three different education systems is something we can afford to do.

K-16

When I graduated high school 30+ years ago, college was the plan for many, but a high school diploma allowed people to live comfortably. Today, an associate’s degree or certification, a bachelor’s degree, or pursuing a trade are almost mandatory to live comfortably. So, let’s pay for that further education, and simply call it K-16. This is investment math — the average college grad makes $23,000 more per year than a high school grad. But, an investment requires time to see the return.

I also think that our public universities are strongest when we let academia do what it does best — research and teach. We need to return a strong commitment to shared governance and reinvest in our world-class University of Wisconsin System and WI Technical College System. 

In a downturn, the first thing that tends to get cut is training and that's the exact wrong approach because it leads to stagnation. We should be investing more in education, especially in a downturn, because creativity and innovation are what help speed a recovery.

Environment & Climate Change

Like civil rights issues, I’m baffled this is still an issue in 2020. Human activity is raising the overall temperature of the planet. It’s not an opinion. It’s science — five sigma science. 

But opportunity still abounds, and two of the biggest job growth categories are in solar and wind energy. We have some of the brightest minds on the planet in the UW System, and some of the hardest-working people capable of incredible feats of manufacturing here in Wisconsin. Want to save manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin, along with land for deer hunting, and kayaking on the rivers? There’s your answer. Stop joking about farting cows, and save the planet and jobs at the same time. That’s just beautiful math.