× Expand David Michael Miller

Every election is a fork in the road; the choice between two paths. Here in Wisconsin, as we choose between challenger Tony Evers and incumbent Gov. Scott Walker, it strikes me as odd how clear the Evers path appears to me, and how murky Walker’s path looks.

Normally, you’d expect the opposite to be true. Walker is, after-all, the devil we know, a two-term incumbent whose policies and vision should be well known to just about everyone. Evers, without a record in the office, should be the unknown quantity.

However, I’ve been surprised by Evers. Toughened up by a long primary campaign against approximately a billion other Democrats, Evers entered the general election race ready to go. He’s used his soft-spoken nature as cover as he’s rattled off one progressive policy position after another: raising the minimum wage, legalizing medical marijuana, accepting federal Medicaid expansion money, allowing undocumented residents to get driver’s licenses, and fully funding 4-year-old kindergarten for all Wisconsinites.

These are the sorts of policies I wanted previous Democratic candidates like Tom Barrett and Mary Burke to push. When either of them would adopt a progressive policy, it came with more clauses and exemptions than a cell phone contract.

Yes, Tony Evers is basically Mr. Rogers. Guess what? Mr. Rogers said and did some wildly radical things while wearing a zippered cardigan.

What’s just as remarkable as Evers’ platform is how it feels like an extension of his career. Going from teacher to principal, to district superintendent to Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction, Evers has built a career of service. He’s spent his life trying to help the most people, given the tools available to him. He advances in his career not to serve his own ambitions, but to serve a wider audience.

It’s rare to see a candidate like Evers, Democrat or Republican. He’s a shocking break from our current governor.

Even though it is his fourth gubernatorial campaign, Walker is running on a vague campaign of creating jobs and keeping taxes low. The best he’s had to offer is the promise of a special legislative session in December to give away some more money to a giant corporation.

It is hard to take what he says at face value. Does anyone actually believe Walker when he says he’ll protect coverage for Wisconsinites with pre-existing conditions? This is the same guy who said that he supported a woman’s right to choose in a 2014 campaign ad and then, in 2016, cut $8 million from Planned Parenthood.

It’s an oddly shallow campaign, devoid of excitement. A world away from the energized man who, in 2010, promised to kill a nearly free high-speed rail line or, in 2015, looked like a promising presidential candidate at rallies in Iowa.

If history is a guide, it’s not like we have any idea what policies he would actually push if given a third term. He never discussed his union-busting Act 10 during the 2010 campaign, though he introduced the legislation mere weeks into his first term in 2011. He vehemently denied plans to advance Right to Work legislation throughout the 2014 campaign, and then signed it into law eight weeks into his second term.

What bomb — his language of choice on Act 10 — might he drop to kick off his third term? A massive restructure of the UW System? More destruction of our natural resources?

There’s no way to know for sure because Walker believes transparency is a four-letter word. Of course, if Walker loses, we don’t have to care about his third-term plans. That sounds like a pretty solid plan to me.

Walker lacks any principled vision. At first, I thought he was a nouveau Ronald Reagan. But he never was. He just wanted to gorge on the same love that Republicans gave to the Gipper. He was, at best, a Ronald Reagan tribute band.

Walker’s only true guiding force is his lust for power. It’s how he can justify promoting austerity while he puts together the largest giveaway to a foreign corporation in American history. It’s why he tried to organize the GOP against Trump before he ultimately bent the knee for Donald in Mosinee.

Tuesday represents a fork in the road. I’ve been ready to get off the Walker path for eight years. Let’s try out the Evers path.

Alan Talaga co-writes the Off the Square cartoon with Jon Lyons.