What has not been canceled are the protests going on in the state capital at Madison against the union-busting tactics of Governor Walker. Gary and I came of age in the 1960's with the civil rights movement and anti-war protests. This is deja vu for us, so we have been monitoring "twitter" messages sent from the capitol rotunda. At the beginning, it was only a few hundred teachers who were involved. By day 4, there were 65,000 protesters in the Square. It is no longer teachers who protest, it is university and high school students, plus union people from as far as Utah and Ohio.
With so many people, food became a problem but help was on its way. It began with some anonymous donor ordering pizza from a local establishment to be delivered to the the capitol building. The idea spread. Ian's Pizza has received orders from most of the United States, from New Zealand to Cairo.
The governor wanted to use the National Guard, the police, the firefighters and even Department of Natural Resources wardens to stop the protest. Poor man, they've all abandoned him. The police union made bratwurst. The firefighters marched playing bagpipes. Today, a furloughed DNR squad came. Even the Green Bay Packers are supporting the unions.
The churches have come forward. The Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists and ELCA Lutherans have all stated their support for the unions. Onward Christian soldiers! I e-mailed
It has been an incredibly peaceful rally. The people tweet each other, encouraging calm. When Fox News said that they were .... horror of horrors ... littering, the university students organized garbage patrols. When the lawn became muddy, the teaching assistants started a collection to replace the grass come spring. Snow didn't stop the rally. The protesters brought shovels and cleared the square.
To keep the anti-union legislation from passing, fourteen Democratic state senators left the state. (One of my favorite tweets was "South Beloit is lovely at this time of year.") The Governor sent state troopers out to arrest them but the police didn't seem to hurry all that much. A fund was set up to support the "Democratic Fourteen". So far, $300,000 has been donated and the senators are still wandering in Illinois. How Walker intends to get them out of Democratic Illinois is questionable.
So we sit in our warm house, watch the marvel that is happening, and root for the unions. It is history in the making, and though we are stuck at home, we don't want to miss any of it.
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