Some thoughts about what is going on in Wisconsin.
When thinking about the particulars of Scott Walker and the Republican’s Budget Repair Bill and the budget itself, I started to focus on myself and my family. After all, I do have a public represented job, but I work for the City of Madison. And the City as an body is obviously very progressive and not likely to decide to take out budgetary woes on its employees.
And thankfully my wife has a great job (not represented), and it is through her job that my family gets our health insurance. Thankfully because of this we are unlikely to be financially damaged or have our health care threatened.
As mentioned above, I live in Madison. Even with dramatic budget cuts the school district can’t be hurt that much, can it? So my kids will still be served and educated well. This district is great, and I’d expect some changes but on the whole it won’t hurt as much as other smaller and or poorer districts.
It was after thinking about all of the above and making this assessment that I got mad. Because I was forced to think about myself and my family. Which is exactly what these Republicans and conservatives want. This is above division, making us think only of ourselves. In fact, some criticism of unions I’ve seen has been, ‘I don’t have a Union, and I’ve lost a lot of power / money / benefits at my job, so so should you.’
But I refuse to think that way. When a kid in Rhinlander has to sit in a classroom with poor supplies and too many students, it affects me. When a disabled neighbor starts to lose the quality of their life and health care, it affects me. As I said, I am not too worried about my personal job of benefits, but when a public employee in Stevens Point loses his voice in negotiating safety conditions at his job, it affects me. When environmental protection of wetlands are exempted from being covered in Brown county, it affects me.
I have been a Wisconsin citizen for my entire life and I don’t plan on going anywhere. I plan on fighting and working towards the recall of as many of these deeply misguided political figures as I can. I want to make things better for for myself and my neighbors, and not join the race to the bottom.
Because whether we notice it or not, whether it applies to our rights, our pocketbooks, our environment, or our sense of pride in the democratic history of Wisconsin, it affects all of us.
