Or why and how this sleeping giant of a progressive has been awaked.
Disclaimer: This post is about me. My history working in politics and some assorted ramblings as to why I'm so passionate about what's going on. It's also being written on a broken laptop. Don't say I didn't warn you.
So, as I sit in my hotel room preparing to go out for a day of protesting the government with my 8-year-old daughter, I am compelled to share my story and tell anyone who is curious why defeating the tyrannical reign of Gov. Walker is so important to me.
I got involved in politics young. Not that young, mind you! Where I grew up, in the northern suburbs of Milwaukee, life was decidedly apolitical -- unless you were talking about the high school halls. Milwaukee is pretty conservative and there wasn't anything to really complain about. But I personally felt bad there. I felt that I didn't belong and -- remember that this was at the height of the preppy fad -- I stood out like a sore thumb.
I listened to John Lennon a lot. I felt that he understood me, that his "Working Class Hero" was about me. I listened to that song every morning before I went to high school my senior year, nodding inside my headphones. And then, just like that, he was shot by a madman. I was pissed.
When I got to college in Madison, Wisconsin I was finally able to put that disaffected anger into action. Politics drew me in hard and fast. What was not to like? There were automatic friends, cute-as-hell guys, great music and A CAUSE ... SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN.
And I threw myself in pretty hard. I joined student politics, aligning myself with Ant Bridge, a group of amazingly smart progressives and successfully ran for the student senate. I traveled on weekends to knock door to door for George McGovern, who was trying to mount a comeback run for president in 1984 (oh for retrospect ... but he was and still continues to be a GREAT man with wonderful ideals). I was a member of MULO -- the student union of people working at the student union! I was honored to be a delegate in the last Wisconsin Caucus (before they joined the primary system) and I even ran for president of my senior class! (Unsuccessfully, but with no scandal).
I wrote for the progressive student daily (there's two student papers here, The Daily Cardinal and the Badger Herald) and was lucky enough to work as a reporter after graduating covering politics (among other beats) for a small daily in Connecticut. I covered the 1988 presidential election (highlight: actor Mark Hamill stumping for Dukakis in Ansonia, Connecticut) and was the deadline reporter for all local politics. I even had to cover the then-attorney general and even-then--a-douchebag Joe Lieberman.
After Connecticut, I moved back to Wisconsin and pretty much devoted myself to making less money with each job I took. I worked for a recycled paper products company as the public information officer, basically disseminating information about the environment and how it related to the business and then worked for years as membership support for an ecological non-profit dedicated to restoring ecosystems.
Then the dark side called. I started working in advertising, and with it trading in some of my soul. Still, the basic essence of what is right and wrong never escaped me. As a creative director in digital advertising in the very turbulent early days of the late 1990s, I did many purely political things to make sure my small team's voice was heard by the big guys. Or at least I justified my path to the dark side with some righteous indignation on the side.
Now, as a parent, the stakes have been raised. I've been considering a move back to Madison this year, but my main reason is that the schools are better here. With Walker's recently passed legislation, I believe the schools will fail and it pains me deeply. I already know how it is in a failed school system. It sucks.
But there is a bigger issue for me, and it's not about unions or teachers or a mysterious wetlands variance stuck in a union-crushing hate bill. It's about politics themselves. I can't believe that this peaceful protest is being characterized with words like "thug" or "chaotic". And I can't believe that an elected official would treat his electorate with such disdain and such OBVIOUS and MALICIOUS corporate koch sucking. And I remain firm in my belief that whatever happens here in Madison will set a distinct template for the entire country.
So like I said, this is just me, telling you, why this is so important. To me. See you out there!
