This morning my dear friend Marianne Williamson asked me what I thought we could be doing in order to respond to what's going on in Wisconsin.
The first thing that came to my mind was, "Friend a teacher." Why not go onto Facebook, look for a teacher in Wisconsin and friend him or her? Reach out to them in solidarity and say, "You are not alone. We will not allow some three-month governor to blame years of poor budget choices on YOU, and try to balance the budget on your salary. We respect your right to collectively bargain and will not sit idly by while that precious right is stolen from you. What you do is far more valuable to this society than what many politicians do."
And then it occurred to me -- this isn't just about teachers. But I'm not certain who else this is about. Who are the rest of these public sector employees? This certainly speaks to the limits of my ability to perform research online, but it also speaks to the limits of American journalism. I've spent an hour trying to get a list of the kinds of jobs Wisconsin public workers perform, and I've had no luck. No article that I've found thus far discusses these jobs in detail -- just the numbers. The numbers of employees, the salaries, the benefits, etc. So little about what they do.
I'm assuming that they are hospital employees, DMV employees, support staff in the capitol, people who work for public power plants and help build roads, but I'm not sure. What I do know is that (cynically) firefighters and police have been exempted from the bill. But what is touching to me is that these two unions have decided to join the ranks of protest with their public brethren and stand should-to-shoulder with them despite their own exemption.
So, I will continue my research and if you have information for me, please let me know. In the meantime, I have begun to reach out on my own. I just googled "Wisconsin Teacher" and found the name "Leah Lechleiter-Luke." She was Wisconsin Teacher of the Year in 2010. I then found her on Facebook and sent her a friend request, with the following personal message:
"My name is Roger Wolfson. I am watching what is happening to all of you, I stand in solidarity with you, and I would like to be your friend.
With love,
Roger"