My day at the Capitol

I’m not political, not really. I do vote in every election, and I have strongly-held beliefs, but for the most part, I’m live and let live when it comes to politics. Also, I don’t trust politicians.

Some of my worst fears about politicians were realized when Governor Walker declared war on public employees. I will be personally, and financially, affected by his actions. But more than that, I am personally appalled that his actions will hurt the poor, public school students, college students and others with limited resources. I am disgusted by his efforts to consolidate power and control into the hands of the privileged few. So it was with growing interest that I watched the protest efforts gather steam in Madison over the last few weeks. “This is a historic time,” I thought. “I want to be a part of that; to say that I participated when I had the opportunity.” I wanted to be able to say that I had stood up for myself and for others.

So this past Saturday, I drove down to Madison to meet up with my friend Shawn. She had attended some of the previous weeks’ rallies, but this one promised to be the biggest one yet.

We left her house, planning on taking the bus to the Capitol. We walked to the bus stop on Atwood Avenue, where about 6 other people waited along with us. One of the women held a small sign that read, “Recall Walker like an overdue library book”, and it seemed we were all headed to the same place. As we stood there, cars honked at us, people waved signs, gave us thumbs up and smiled. When the bus pulled up, it was packed solid, standing room only. The whole city, it seemed, was headed to the Capitol. On the bus, I spoke to a woman who was an unemployed physical therapist. She had gone every day, she said, to protest for the people who couldn’t come because they were working.

When we arrived, Shawn suggested we walk around the Capitol Square. Already at 10 am, there were people everywhere. News vans and union trailers were parked on the streets. Organizations had tents set up, with petitions and mailers, signs and stickers. Entrepreneurs were selling t-shirts, noisemakers, or food. There were thousands of people on the Capitol grounds, with thousands more promenading around the Square. Small groups would walk together—both public and private unions—firefighters, boilermakers, ironworkers, nurses, librarians, teachers. I saw workers from Nebraska, and Michigan, and Minnesota. It wasn’t a carnival, but everyone was in high spirits. There was lots of chanting and drumming. As we walked along, Shawn and I ran into Marge Loch-Wauters, a librarian from La Crosse. Funny that in a crowd that large, you’d walk right next to someone you knew!

Soon we heard horns and the rumble of diesel engines. A caravan of tractors made its way to the Square. As Shawn and I made our way to the curb, I heard someone call my name. It was Katie Guzek, one of my co-workers. She introduced me to her family, and we all got in place to watch the tractorcade. As the farmers drove past, the crowds would chant, “Thank you! Thank you!” and the farmers would wave and smile and cheer back. The energy and enthusiasm of all of these people was genuinely moving.

After lunch at a Nepalese restaurant on State Street, Shawn and I headed back up to the Capitol. The sun was out by this time, and even more people thronged the streets. It was hard to see the whole scope of it, but Shawn said there were many more people than any previous day she had attended. Later estimates put the crowd at up to 100,000 people.

At 3 pm, an honor guard escorted the Fab 14, Democratic senators who had fled the state to try to stop passage of the budget repair bill, up to the speaking podium. The Senators received a hero’s welcome from the crowd, with the crowd roaring, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” to them. I can only imagine what it must have felt like to them, standing at the podium, hearing tens of thousands of people chanting. One by one, the senators addressed the crowd, thanking everyone for supporting them and assuring us that the fight to restore workers’ rights was far from over. The Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke after that, followed by actor Tony Shaloub, who gave a funny and sweet speech about his sister Amy, who works as a speech pathologist in a school district.

After that, as it was getting late, Shawn and I decided to leave. As we started to go, I heard someone say, “There’s a librarian!” Looking up, I saw Pete Angelillo, a former co-worker. Shawn too ran into several people she knew. I loved the absolute miracle that in a crowd of thousands, you would still meet your friends and neighbors.

Making our way off the Square was almost impossible, because there were so many people packed in, it was extremely difficult to move. But everyone was calm and civil, and eventually we made it out of the crowd. We rode another packed bus back to Shawn’s house, and I headed home.

Shawn and I talked a bit during the day about the purpose of being there. These protests won’t change the Governor’s mind; he’s said as much. I told Shawn, “We did it for us.” Because in a free democracy, you get to disagree with your government and speak up for yourself. We did it for the unity and solidarity of supporting your fellow workers. We did it because we could.

Some of my impressions of the day:

At no time, even when we were caught in the crowd, did I feel unsafe. There were such high spirits and positive attitudes. People were friendly and polite, and you felt energized and excited by the crowd.

Many of the chants still ring in my ears: “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Scott Walker has got to go!” “Recall! Walker!” “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” “Thank you! Thank you!” “This is what democracy looks like!”

The signs were pretty incredible too. Many of them were vulgar, but most were clever or funny or poignant. A few of my favorites:

“Cat Lovers Against Walker”
A photo of Scott Walker with a road sign below it: “Keep Left”
“My cat is smarter than Scott Walker”
“My 83-year-old mother told me to come here and protest for her. I listen to my mother.” (I told him my 81-year-old mother was proud of me for coming to the protest.)
Held by a young boy: “I want a governor who is smarter than me.”
Held by his older sister: “I got detention for standing up for my beliefs.”
Under a photo of John Belushi: “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”

The streets throughout the downtown were filled with protestors carrying signs, and while we were walking back to the bus stop, cars driving past all honked out, “Beep beep beep buh beep beep buh beep beep!” THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!. Walking back to Shawn’s house, we could hear cars all the way over on Washington Ave beeping out the message.

I’m so glad I went. I’m so glad I got to go with a friend I love. I would hope that anyone who had the slightest interest in participating in something like this would do it. It’s worth it.

Tonight a co-worker reports that at least 4000 people showed up at a demonstration outside a Green Bay banquet hall were Governor Walker was speaking at a Republican dinner. For conservative Brown County, protesting a bill that has already been passed, that’s incredible,. We may have lost this battle, but the fight is far from over. This is just the beginning.

Still not too much to say

It seems as though my time and attention has been elsewhere lately. There's a lot of anger and anxiety of what's been happening with the Wisconsin state budget, and as a public employee, I stand to be directly affected by how all of this turns out.

What has been hardest for me to understand is the anger that is directed at public employees. Where did all of this come from? We've been called lazy, incompetent, greedy parasites...yet only yesterday, I had a man ask me, "Can you look something up for me? I could do it myself, but I'm too lazy." Sure, this lazy incompetent greedy parasite will be GLAD to do that for you.