January 6: America’s annual reminder that democracy cannot be taken for granted

Coincidentally, the date is special to UpNorthNews and helps us explain our ongoing mission to defend democracy and build civic engagement.

This is definitely not the kind of greeting you’d expect on this day, but… “Happy January 6th!” ???

What can I tell you? It’s the kind of cosmic coincidence that we never expected five years ago today, when January 6 was also on a Monday, early in the year 2020. That was the day UpNorthNews first went “live.” We sent out our first newsletter, started populating stories on the website, and published our first posts on social media. We were fired up and ready to go. 

And then COVID showed up, forcing us out of a single newsroom. Like many other workplaces, we adapted. We learned to master digital journalism and we added additional platforms like TikTok and a statewide radio show. 

The pandemic was our first significant challenge, with the 2020 election and its aftermath right on its heels. And that takes us to January 6, 2021—the anniversary with a little more notoriety than our launch a year earlier.

If UpNorthNews started with messages about the importance of civic awareness, it was buttressed a year later with the reminder that our democracy is more fragile than we realized—and only increased civic awareness and participation can forge the shield that protects democracy from being undermined and overwhelmed by those who see authoritarianism as a viable, even attractive, alternative. 

We’ve endeavored to tell the stories of good people who work in elected offices and behind the scenes to improve our health care, support our public schools, create opportunities for job growth, protect our elections, defend our medical rights, strengthen rural economies, fight for equality, preserve our natural resources, and encourage other good people to be part of the next generation of candidates, volunteers, and organizers. 

We also worked to live up to our original motto of being “Unabashedly Wisconsin” by sharing countless stories about the people, places, events, quirks, traditions, food, and drink that make this state such a wonderful place to call home—so wonderful that we’re willing to stand up and take action when politicians or groups are acting in ways that run counter to our state’s values of opportunity, tolerance, and progress.

While we have a lot in common across Wisconsin, we also have friends, neighbors and loved ones whose views have been shaped by information that comes from questionable sources. Look at January 6 and how Sen. Ron Johnson —who was already undermining public confidence in our elections— was nearly in a position that day to deliver fraudulent ballots from fake electors to a joint session of Congress. 

Look at how Congressmen Tom Tiffany and Scott Fitzgerald voted to object to the certified vote totals from Arizona and Pennsylvania—figuratively spitting in the faces of the voters there in an effort to alter their decisions. A member of the Wisconsin Election Commission, Robert Spindell, has been allowed to hold his post despite being one of Donald Trump’s fake electors. Two attorneys with Wisconsin connections, Kenneth Chesebro and former Dane County judge Jim Troupis, are facing 11 felony counts in state court for their role in Trump’s attempted coup. And Derrick Van Orden was on the US Capitol grounds that fateful day, not yet a member of Congress—just a willing part of the mob summoned by Trump to intentionally disrupt an American election. 

In other words, even four years removed from the insurrection, there is still work to be done to secure justice and boost the public confidence in our elections that these men and others deliberately sabotaged. That’s going to take more time, especially after Trump and other Republicans were able to delay justice and convince enough voters to put them back in power. 

But surrender is not an option. The real patriots in this country are the ones whose love of democracy powers them into offering constant reminders to fellow Americans that we must not go down a path that has led other nations into darkness and decline. In Wisconsin, that work resumes in April with a pivotal race for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Why? Because in the weeks leading up to January 6, 2021, several conservative justices signaled a willingness to side with Trump’s false claims and offer him a path toward an illegitimate usurping of an American election. Those justices must not be allowed to again control the court when the next attempt is made to torpedo the will of the voters.

So while we’re not thrilled to share a birthday with an insurrection, it also serves as an annual reaffirmation of our mission as journalists, our responsibility as citizens, and our love for our state. We will not pause in our efforts to work toward a more informed, engaged, and representative America. There are simply too many cheeses to sample, lakes to visit, and new friends to make for us to do anything but put in another five years of service to you.