Update From Madison, WI
On Thursday I got an email from my friend and mentor Dr. Marvin Olasky at World Magazine (and Provost at The King's College in Manhattan) asking if I would be interested in returning up to Madison, WI for an updated report on the one-the-ground situation. I of course said "absolutely" and on Friday morning I loaded up my intrepid Dodge Intrepid and jumped on 90-W with Ricochet member MJL for the little-over-two-hour trek.
(Note: If you've yet to read my first two reports from Madison, here is Part I and here is Part II.)
By going up on Friday (instead of Saturday when all the crowds returned) we were able to see the protest and the protesters stripped down to their bare essentials. Also, because it was a weekday, a couple of students like MJL and myself were basically the only two conservatives (or pro-Governor Walker) people on the premises. Conservatives tend to have jobs, and more than that, jobs they don't feel strangely comfortable calling in sick to whenever it becomes politically convenient.
As we neared the downtown area we stopped to wait for a street light to turn green a man named Ted approached us and struck up a conversation. Ted had a winter coat on, but one that was crammed underneath a bright-red t-shirt which declared proudly to the world across his chest, “Democracy Under Attack: Time To Fight Back.” Turns out Ted is a retired teacher from the Madison area, now in his late 60’s, and is an unapologetic critic of Governor Scott Walker and ardent supporter of the unions. For more than 10 minutes, Ted explained his views on the current landscape of political discourse and ideology in his home state, as well as the United States in general.
Here are some excerpts from his monologue: “Conservatives are timid by nature. They are driven by profit motives and not by compassion and fairness like we on the Left are...I give those Tea Party people credit, though. They were the first ones out there in 2009. Libertarians and anti-big government people are active and it has come time for those of us on the other side of the aisle to become active...I'm done with Obama. He made all of these big promises and the guy hasn’t followed through on any of the ones I care about. We’re still in two wars. The health care thing was okay, but we need more...And as for Democrats in this state, I’m done with all of them. The only ones I like are the ones who left the state. I’m sick of moderate Democrats and liberals.”
Ted was not on his way to the protest inside (and around) the capitol building, where he claimed to have spent most of his time the past 18 days, but was en route to Bethany Luther Church downtown Madison for a weekly “Seniors” luncheon his home church provides. Ted told us he had studied linguistics at UW-Madison as a young man, and after talking for 10-minutes straight without so much as a breath taken, I completely believed he was a man with a passion for language.
After parting ways with Ted at the steps of the capitol building, I saw what would turn out to be the only undeniably visible pro-Governor Walker supporter I would see all day. He was a tall, skinny man with a mustache, glasses, jeans and a Green Bay Packers wind-breaker on. He had a giant sign that read “Democracy worked, Scott Walker won, Unions lost.” He likely didn’t go more than 5 seconds without hearing someone boo or jeer him as they passed by.
Having been on the ground two weeks earlier, on a day when the crowd was estimated to be between 30,000-50,000, the town square where the capitol building was located could not have looked more different. There were no more than a few hundred – maybe a thousand at most – protesters out and about the state house.
But the sounds of protests were reminiscent of a larger crowd. Due to a court-ordered injunction issued by a Circuit Court judge Thursday night, all of the instruments (mainly drums) were removed from the building and so even as you approached the town square (and certainly when you were standing smack-dab in the middle of it) you could hear the constant drum-beat of musically-inclined protesters. The beat gave a life or vibrancy to an area that was devoid of the actual human bodies it boasted two weeks before.
After being patted down by a wand-clad officer, and asked to remove and reveal all of the contents of my pockets, I found myself in the corridor leading to the main circular-shaped lobby of the state house where the heart of the protesting action has taken place the last two weeks. Covering nearly every square inch of the walls of the corridor, the colonnades in the main lobby, and basically any other hard surface available to a human being without a ladder or boost from a friend, there were signs, posters, and flyers as far as the eye could see.
Out of thousands hanging on the wall, I saw not one in support of Governor Walker. They ranged from the humorous (“My Governor Went To The Super Bowl on the State’s Dime and all I got was this lousy poster”) to the ideological (“Capitalism Bankrupted America, Not Unions”) to the theological (“Jesus loves hard-working Americans…Why don’t you, Gov. Walker?”).
We spent a few hours wandering throughout the capitol building, talking with people, snapping photos of interesting signs and people we saw. There were a few hundred people milling about. The police, as I mentioned before, were everywhere, but the general mood in the lobby was calm and collected. Every five minutes or so a cluster of people would try to get a “What’s disgusting? Union Busting!” chant going, but it would die out after no more than a minute. A group called Solidarity, comprised of a few dozen local artists supportive of the union protests, performed brief “interpretative dances” in the center of the lobby that were supposed to represent the oppression Governor Walker and the Republicans were allegedly guilty of. I asked one of the performers what their dances were called and he said his group was inspired by something called “Theatre of the Oppressed.”
I talked with a number of police officers who kept reiterating how, on the whole, the protesters had been peaceable (however passionate). Only 11 arrests had been made in 18 days. Every office I spoke with said something to the effect of, “People have been coming here to voice their opinion on the matter, and regardless of how you land on the issue politically, that is every American’s right to do.”
We continued my tour of the grounds and immediate surrounding area and ventured back outside where the drizzle had stopped. We saw two nearby churches and decided to try and find out what local congregations thought of the events of the past two weeks. An elderly woman sitting in the back pew of Grace Episcopal Church named Judith gave us a copy of a press release from Rt. Rev. Steven A. Miller. In it one finds a call to pray for the state and nation’s leaders, but also some insinuating statements like this:
“We are called to speak on behalf of the sick, the poor, the elderly, orphans, widows, and all those who live in the margins of our society. Matthew in his Gospel reminds us that in serving these we are serving the Lord Jesus himself. It would be a sin to balance our state budget on the backs of those who have the least.”
A 20-year member of Grace Episcopal, Judith said that she put the number at 75% or more of Christians she knows who support the unions and dislike Governor Walker a great deal.
We spoke with an array of pro-union folks, all of them civil and cordial. I was surprised by how many parents I saw with school-age children, and after talking to some of the students we encountered, I learned that most of them were there because either their parents or teachers had taken them out of school for the day to "witness a piece of history." I couldn't help but think to myself, "It would have probably been better for you to be reading real history in class right now and coming by the capitol building on the weekend." But with the current state of American public school education being what it is, that point is certainly debatable.
Just like two weeks ago, this trip up to Madison was a lot of fun and extremely enlightening. Plus we ate at the world's largest Culver's, which was thrilling in the way that Culver's food is healthy.
The battle for fiscal sanity (and healthier arteries) continues in The Land of Cheese...
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Update From Madison, WI
This was great! I felt like I was there walking around with you. Thanks for another update. Here's a great big LIKE for this post!
Dec '10
Re: Update From Madison, WI
“We are called to speak on behalf of the sick, the poor, the elderly, orphans, widows, and all those who live in the margins of our society. Matthew in his Gospel reminds us that in serving these we are serving the Lord Jesus himself. It would be a sin to balance our state budget on the backs of those who have the least.”
Even without bennies, these teachers are making, what, an average of about $60K and $40K at minimum? That's some pretty sweet suffering right there.
A 20-year member of Grace Episcopal, Judith said that she put the number at 75% or more of Christians she knows who support the unions and dislike Governor Walker a great deal.
I'll bet she never knew anybody who voted for Nixon either.
I doubt it will ever occur to her that God might not be on board with telling her what she wants to hear.
Dec '10
Re: Update From Madison, WI
There's something I've been trying to find out for a long time and haven't and it's sort of on topic.
Weren't Jared Loughner's parents public sector union members? Specifically, SEIU. I remember reading that the job his mother had was unionized in 2007. But we don't see much about Loughner or his situation anymore, do we?
Oct '10
Re: Update From Madison, WI
The cowardly Wisconsin Democrats have surrendered. Kudos to Scott Walker for holding the line.
Nov '10
Re: Update From Madison, WI
Great posts RJM. Thanks for your efforts. Two thumbs up.
Dec '10
Re: Update From Madison, WI
So their excuse is that Walker's numbers are low so they did their job in walking out and driving his approval numbers down.
First, his numbers aren't that low. And the polls that showed it were a little suspect.
Second, there'll be a new election in 2012 and Walker himself won't be on the ballot. More importantly, the sky will not have fallen.
Third, I expect this to devastate the Left. They put a lot of emotional energy in "the 14" and now have nothing to show for it. They might hate Walker, but now they have no faith in the alternative.
Finally, the funding spigots are cut off. The automatic deductions are cut off and unions must be certified by an annual election. So, to keep the money flowing, they'll have to raise union dues. If they do, they'll get voted out.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the GOP win Wisconsin in 2012 and even Herb Kohl might be in trouble. I think the funding issue is that huge.
Dec '10
Re: Update From Madison, WI
Oh, the comments at that WSJ article say that the senators have denied it. It's about an hour ago that those comments were up.
Oct '10
Re: Update From Madison, WI
Odd, though, that it isn't Sen. Miller denying it. Rather, it's another state senator named Chris Larson. Dissension in the ranks, perhaps?
Dec '10
Re: Update From Madison, WI
Miller did the worst possible thing, Mike. He announced that surrender is imminent. And he didn't deny that. I think he told the truth: The bill will get passed and the Dems will return to Madison.
Apparently the NYT is reporting the same thing.
They were counting on Walker caving in. Now they need to save face. I really think for the past week or so that they've been begging Walker for some crumbs to let them return and not look foolish and Walker would have none of it. That's why they're returning with nothing more than low Walker poll numbers.