On Wisconsin

I’ve been watching the protest circus in Wisconsin with great interest. This is not because I care greatly about educational reform, but I used to live in Wisconsin, and I worked at UW-Madison for a while. So when I see a picture of some public school teacher holding up a “WE NEEN QUALITY TEACHERS” sign, or holding up a sign arguing that the governor of Wisconsin is just like Hitler*, it’s fun to look in the background and say “Hey, I was there!” or “Hey, I ran a red light there in 2004!”**

I don’t really have any deep thoughts on the matter. I’ll admit, I do think some of the protesters are idiots. It takes an egregious degree of historical illiteracy to argue that Scott Walker is just like Hitler, the instigator of the Holocaust and the most destructive war in human history. Or even Hosni Mubarak, who while nowhere near the same league of evil as Hitler, held on to power for thirty years via brutal repression while enriching himself and his family at his country’s expense. And the protesters’ knowledge of economics seems lacking, as well – if the state’s broke, the state’s broke. The money just ain’t there, and raising taxes won’t automagically fix the problem. I left Wisconsin in 2005, and the job market was dismal then, and I doubt it’s improved since. Can’t tax people if they don’t have any money to tax.

But this is the United States, and our politics are Manichean. No room for gray in the epic clash between light and darkness. Why start thinking objectively about politics now?

Actually, I saw Scott Walker in person once, about three or four years ago. I was helping my dad with some genealogical research, and we went to the library in downtown Milwaukee. Walker was Milwaukee County Executive then, and we saw him on a street corner with an assistant and a webcam, recording something for his website.

So in four years, he’s gone from a street corner and a webcam to causing a national political showdown! Truly, America is the land of opportunity.

Still, I’m pleased the protests haven’t degenerated into riots yet. Most of my family lives in Wisconsin, after all.

But if people think these protests are big, wait until Social Security starts running out of money. Those protests are gonna be epic.

-JM

*Apparently, in the 21st century, no one is famous for fifteen minutes, but everyone is just like Hitler for fifteen minutes.

**My UW job paid an additional dollar an hour if you showed up on time, but if you were late even once, you lost the dollar an hour for the week. So in order to show up on time, I may have skirted the edges of certain traffic laws. From time to time.