Sep 7, 2022Book Review by Tom Nelson — Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War (William Saletan)William Saletan’s Bearing Right: How conservatives won the abortion war is an appropriate title for a book in the wake of the Dobbs decision that eviscerated 50 years of Supreme Court precedent and made half of the US population second-class citizens over night — except for one tiny detail. Saletan’s…Abortion3 min readAbortion3 min read
Aug 22, 2022Book Review by Tom Nelson — Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers (John Nichols)Few examples of reprehensible Republican behavior tick me off more so than the GOP’s response to the COVID pandemic. And I’m not just talking about just Donald Trump, the U.S. Congress or even Ron Johnson. I’m talking about the Wisconsin Republican state legislature. They fought the Governor at every turn…Coronavirus2 min readCoronavirus2 min read
Aug 4, 2022Book Review by Tom Nelson — Milked: How an American Crisis Brought Together Midwestern Dairy Farmers and Mexican Workers (Ruth Conniff)Few policy problems are easier to diagnose but more difficult to treat than the dairy crisis. “You have to change the economics,” my farmer uncle Dave tells me. A tax credit here, a federal subsidy there won’t do the trick. The system needs to be overhauled. Growth management is the…Dairy2 min readDairy2 min read
Apr 10, 2022Book Review by Tom Nelson — Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain (Danny Goldberg)While there are countless books and documentaries on the late Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, few are as intimate and meaningful as that of former music executive and Nirvana manager, Danny Goldberg. Goldberg is an interesting study himself. He captured the attention of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant at…Music3 min readMusic3 min read
Mar 15, 2022Book Review by Tom Nelson — Proxmire: Bulldog of the Senate (Jonathan Kasparek)Growing up I didn’t want to be a Green Bay Packer or a Milwaukee Brewer; I wanted to be a Bill Proxmire. Proxmire was the hardest working U.S. Senator in history. …3 min read3 min read
Mar 10, 2022Full Nelson Agenda: Jobs & the EconomyWrestling Corporate Interests, Pinning Down Inflation, Restoring Our Supply Chain & Making It In Wisconsin Overview During my 72-county “Full Nelson Tour” last summer, I heard the pained stories of Wisconsinites who, through no fault of their own, had fallen victim to the corporate interests that are strangling working families. …Politics8 min readPolitics8 min read
Feb 16, 2022Book Review by Tom Nelson — The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World (Robert Kagan)When I read the famed neo-conservative “thinker” Robert Kagan, I hear a voice in my head: “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” History has shown that neo-conservative foreign policy has been an abysmal failure and its docents like Kagan — along with President George W. Bush…Politics4 min readPolitics4 min read
Feb 1, 2022Hands Off Sweden 🇸🇪When campaigning, people often ask, “Nelson, is that with an -on or -en?” Or, “Nelson, that must be Norwegian?” Fortunately, my Swedish grandmother is not around to hear the latter. Norwegians and Swedes have a colorful history. And everything was cool so long as the Moe Lutherans (i.e. …Politics3 min readPolitics3 min read
Jan 21, 2022Book Review by Tom Nelson — The Left Behind: Decline and Rage in Small-Town America (Robert Wuthnow)“Why can’t Democrats do better in rural areas?” As a U.S. Senate Candidate, I get that question every day. I heard it at the stops on my 72-county listening session tour last summer. Democrats are an introspective and self-flailing bunch. “Is it me? It has to be me! Why is it always me?!” Robert Wuthnow delivers an answer…Politics3 min readPolitics3 min read
Dec 28, 2021Book Review by Tom Nelson — Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right (Jane Mayer)I have been a public servant for seventeen years, six as a legislator, eleven as an executive. The last book I’d want to read is how the right-wing diabolically, but cleverly took over our democracy. How depressing. But at the insistence of my dad as well as John Nichols, I…4 min read4 min read
