Former Gov. and UW–Stevens Point Chancellor Lee Sherman Dreyfus coined the term that, believe it or don’t, the City of Madison, according to the Wisconsin State Journal, is ready to use as its official motto: “77 square miles surrounded by reality.”

This news has generated at least one harrumph and at least one huzzah. (I wonder myself if the city should have to pay royalties to the Dreyfus estate, but that’s their problem.) The Yes vote comes from Tom Breuer:

While the proposal has garnered mixed reviews (Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce President Zach Brandon told the Wisconsin State Journal, “Maybe we should figure out the square footage of the City Council chamber and use that”), I think the slogan could stand as a winking acknowledgment of our, ahem, uniqueness.

As a Madisonian in good standing, I understand that the rest of the state has a bit of a jaundiced outlook when it comes to our little burg. I’m reminded of Woody Allen’s fretful characterization of New Yorkers’ image problem in his movie Annie Hall: “Don’t you see? The rest of the country looks upon New York like we’re leftwing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers. I think of us that way sometimes, and I live here.”

Soglin said he will be proposing the motto to the City Council on Tuesday, and we’ll see where it goes from there.

Alas, I’m guessing it will fail. If so, here are a few more suggestions we can try:

• The Land Where Bicycles Don’t Stop
• 7,700 Vegans Surrounded by Cow Methane
• Hey, Milwaukee: Our Cars Burn Less Fuel Than Your Bloated Livers
• Madison: Where Fox Valley Liberals Go When They Want to Feel Like Republicans
• Hey, Imagine if That Weird Kaukauna Smell Was Sage Incense, Patchouli, and Gluten-Free Mocha Hazelnut Cupcakes!
• Visit. Stay. Play. Get Your Car Towed Around the Corner
• Madison: Where Any Kid Can Grow Up to Be Mayor as Many Times as He Wants
• Come for the Past Life Regression Therapy, Stay for the Thong Cape Scooter Man
• You’re Driving Through the Forest Wearing a Bright Orange Hat With a 200-Pound Animal Carcass Strapped to the Roof of Your Jetta and You Think We’re the Strange Ones?
• And for all those who’ve swum in our town’s lakes when they probably shouldn’t have: Alcohol and Night Swimming; It’s a Winning Combination.

The opposing view comes from Caffeinated Politics:

Mayor Soglin will offer a resolution establishing Madison’s motto as “77 Square Miles Surrounded by Reality,” with a provision to  change the size as the city continues to grow.  While everyone who loves this city understands the joke that has long been referenced since the days of Governor Dreyfus’s playful comment, there should be no serious consideration of making this our city motto.

This is a vibrant, eclectic, intelligent city that has often been derided by those living elsewhere, and are miffed that we have so much going for us here.  So it is understandable why so many Madisonians are opposed to the idea that Soglin has bounced around to the point that he is going to take city time, and resources to debate it.

“I have a sense of humor. I have my pink flamingo. But I don’t think it’s a good  motto to have for the city,” said Council President Chris Schmidt, who intends  to vote no. “We’re feeding a meme. This is more harmful than helpful to us.”  

As the news story notes other places have mottos that lift the sails, and accentuate the positive.  This feeble attempt at finding a city motto for Madison says much about Soglin’s waning leadership abilities.

The comment of Brandon, formerly a Madison alderman and the secretary of commerce for Democratic Gov. James Doyle, is ironic. Breuer speaks from experience about “Fox Valley liberals,” although in my 18 years of Fox Valley experience finding left-wing wack jobs was immensely more difficult in Northeast Wisconsin than in Mad City, where you bump into five of them walking 10 feet.

Deke also grossly overstates the People’s Republic of Madison’s attributes. Vibrant? Nearly any university town is; that’s not really an accomplishment by itself. Eclectic? In some ways, but certainly not in ideology, where libertarians are only accepted for their anti-Drug War views and conservatives would be lynched were it legal. Intelligent? Ask yourself how many brilliant ideas of Hizzoner Da Mare for Life and the Central Committee — I mean, the Common Council — have been adopted by other government bodies outside those 77 square miles.

That part about “reality” doesn’t merely reference Madison’s flakiness, such as the Common Council’s expressing its (majority) opinion about every U.S. military involvement from Vietnam to now. (As if anyone in Washington cares what 12 or more Madison “alders” think.) It also reflects the reality official Madison refuses to acknowledge, such as the negatives that growing past 200,000 population have brought to the city, including increasing crime, increasing violent crime, real estate that is now so expensive that the middle-class can no longer afford to live in Madison, decreasing school quality and the gap between white and minority student achievement.

One of Deke’s commenters suggests:

I get that Soglin is trying to be ironic and use “reality” as a pejorative, but I don’t think most people will get it. Plus, you sound like a snob when you try to insult the rest of the state. How about “Isthmus of Ideas”

That works, because those of us in Realityland can change it to “Isthmus of Bad Ideas.”

Truth be told, I think this is a great idea, independent of my antipathy to my home town and its negative-IQ politics. One thing marketing experts tell you is you have to be authentic. Madison is authentically bizarre, similar to Austin, Texas or Berkeley, Calif. (Either of those two has better weather, however.) Madison might as well embrace its inner freak.