ONE QUESTION.

Q: What Should the Nation Learn from Wisconsin's Progressive Past?

BARBARA LAWTON

Former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, serving two terms from 2003 to 2011

Paeans to the progressive movement surge as we live through economic and social disruption not unlike that at the time the Wisconsin Idea took form as a progressive experiment.

The story is told how, when presented with a clear and strong progressive message from a passionate advocate, the people will respond enthusiastically. The deep wealth and political divisions at the onset of the twentieth century, like today, animated the DNA in our democracy, fueled the collective moral imagination for social and political reforms that changed lives and institutions, and charted, for a time, a brighter future to be more broadly shared. It seemed to be our moment to show the rest of the nation how to adapt democracy to the economic reality of the time.

But, if valuable lessons are to be learned, we must confront head-on the failings of our progressive past. Progressive leaders were sluggish on women's suffrage, not wanting to alienate their male supporters. And then there is the devastating lesson found in the incalculable cost of perpetually not addressing the issue of race. Our "progressive" history is a study in racial quarantine, in what's been called the worst state in the union to be Black.

People of color are still seen as misplaced newcomers. Without strong leadership to insist on anti-racist reforms at every level of government, there can be no enduring solutions to the inequality of our day.

NADA ELMIKASHFI

Madison activist and candidate for the Wisconsin state senate

While Wisconsin may have had a progressive past, it is clear that the definition of progress has not included everyone.

The Black Lives Matter movement...