Thanks to the movement for genuinely democratic popular government which Senator La Follette led to overwhelming victory in Wisconsin, that state has become literally a laboratory for wise experimental legislation aiming to secure the social and political betterment of the people as a whole. Nothing is easier than to demand, on the stump, or in essays and editorials, the abolition of injustice and the securing to each man of his rights. But actually to accomplish practical and effective work along the line of such utterances is so hard that the average public man, and average public writer, have not even attempted it; and unfortunately too many of the men in public life who have seemed to attempt it have contented themselves with enacting legislation which, just because it made believe to do so much, in reality accomplished very little. [In the Introduction to The Wisconsin Idea by Charles McCarthy.]

The reformist vision of the state's early leaders has remained a common political theme. The status quo has been repeatedly challenged. Voter turnout is generally high.

During the Vietnam War, UW-Madison was one of the most politically active campuses in the nation. Demonstrations, rallies, sit-ins, and pickets were frequent and unceasing. In 1967, the National Guard was called in to respond to a demonstration against Dow Chemical, the producer of Agent Orange. Government's heavy-handedness resulted in a violent riot of national importance. Citizens are familiar with government's disproportional responses. Political activism remains high today.

Madison has a population of just over 200,000 people. There are two major newspapers (one state-wide). The alternative press is well represented. The University of Wisconsin-Madison has an enrollment of about 40,000 students and has two newspapers published on campus with decidedly political voices. Should caring people decide to move to Madison, the potential for political power as a voting block for animals is significant.

The city's relatively small size and progressive political history combine to make it an attractive location for establishing a beachhead of animalsí rights. Combined with its small size and progressive tradition is its historical importance as the site of the fundamental scientific studies establishing the unambiguous fact that humans and some animal species possess similar emotions and cognitive abilities, that we perceive the world in similar ways, and that our subjective experiences are of a like kind.

The National Primate Research Exhibition Hall's proximity to the Harry Harlow Primate Psychology Laboratory and the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center is unique. The other seven National Institutes of Health's flagship primate vivisection laboratories are inaccessible to the public. Nowhere else in the United States is it possible to experience such intimacy with such horror.

Madison, Wisconsin is centrally located. Madison is a day's drive from Milwaukee, Chicago, Iowa City, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. People can attend national rallies, conventions, and the ever-changing exhibits with ease and bring increasing attention to the issue in a way that no other events anywhere are likely to do.

Animal activists living in Wisconsin have no shortage of campaign possibilities confronting the major establishments of abuse. Madison, Wisconsin is considered one of the largest biotech centers in the country, home to an enormous Covance Laboratory and other privately owned laboratories. The state has the highest concentration of hideous dairy farms and proudly boasts this fact on their license plate motto which reads, "America's Dairlyand." Wisconsin is also one of the largest fur-producing states in the country, and home to Berlin, Wisconsin; the "fur and leather capitol of the country." Ironically, it is in the midst of this madness that we are fortunate to have such a unique opportunity to overhaul our society's attitude toward animals.

Why Madison? Because a constellation of factors has provided the animal rights movement with an opportunity here that is unparallel and unique. We hope you will lend your effort to putting animal rights on the map.