If I Ran the Zoo… When Racism Strikes at Home

If I Ran the Zoo… When Racism Strikes at Home

So over the summer (in July to be precise) we, somewhat reluctantly, attended a family reunion at my parent’s home. It’s an annual affair that always leaves us feeling as less than part of the family. Let me explain. Ever since I married a not-white man it’s been evident that my dad’s side of the family is both racist and privileged. We frequently have to listen to Obama-bashing, Islamophobic, homophobic, and anti-immigrant rhetoric and this year, when one of my aunties saw my two-year-old son wearing a Spiderman shirt with a hood, she exclaimed “he looks just like those fucking Mexicans!” Which was followed by another auntie remarking, “do you mean the ones who live next door to you?” As if it wasn’t bad enough that they were comparing my son to “fucking Mexicans” they were doing it right in front of my husband. And when they noticed him sitting there they changed the subject to how Donald Trump is going to save America from illegal immigrants.

Jesse didn’t tell me until afterwards, and needless to say I was furious, and deeply, deeply hurt. I can not emphasize enough how painful this was for me. To have the people who I have loved my entire life speak so disparagingly about my son, and to do so right in front of him, and my five year old daughter, and my grown husband, all of whom are Anishinabe, or the original people. To them we are all immigrants and those “fucking Mexicans” are all family.

I posted a few Facebook status updates about the incident and, really, that’s where the fun began. The privileged responses from my dad’s side of the family fell into four categories – support, denial, shaming, and blaming. My mother and two of my cousins reached out with sincere support and offered words of repentance. My father was silent. One of my uncles said that I should “consider the source” as if my husband was telling me a lie, and that such a thing could never happen in our family, and that I must be smoking too much weed – the trifecta of denial, blaming, and shaming. It was a clear indication that my husband was never a welcome member to their family, and that my marriage to him excluded me from being a part of their family too.  

Several cousins inquired as to why Jesse didn’t say something immediately – expecting people of color to confront and correct racism is the epitome of white privilege – and shamed me for pointing out both the racism and the privileged response. It’s also insulting to white people because it implies that we (yes, I am a white person too) are too stupid to recognize racism and correct it ourselves. Let’s be clear anyone should be able to see that how that woman spoke about my two-year-old son was not appropriate, period. Not to mention it’s not appropriate to speak about strangers that way either, lest we forget those “fucking Mexicans” are actually human beings who are deserving of the same dignity and respect we seek for ourselves.

Many offered excuses or justifications that implied that Jesse may not have heard correctly, and that I owe the family the benefit of the doubt. As if he couldn’t hear them sitting six inches away from them, I mean literally, he was sitting right next to them! And better yet, a few of my cousins who weren’t there asked me to disassociate the posts (in which I tagged every single one of my family members; we are a family right?) since they weren’t there and didn’t want anything to do with the situation. They were polite, and privileged.

The next step I took was bold, and perhaps extreme, I blocked them all from my social media spaces and moved on with my life like none of them exist, even the ones who offered their support with few exceptions: my mom and dad, and my cousin Kate, who to her credit is also a Jerow, and while wasn’t specifically supportive wasn’t wholly offensive or privileged in her response either. After I did this literally nothing in our lives changed, except I didn’t see the frequent and offensive social media posts from that side of my family.

In the ten years since I’ve been married to Jesse not a single one of them have ever made an effort to connect with us in any meaningful way, not even when we come to family events. They can’t, won’t, and haven’t put their rhetoric and hateful views on hold for even a few hours so we can be part of this family without reserve. No one ever calls, no one ever visits us, and no one makes arrangements to see us when they come to Madison. My cousins even organize an annual gathering in Madison every year and literally have never invited us, ever. The closest they’ve come is a text message two weeks prior telling me they can “keep me in the loop” if we want to be included, like I have to opt in to being a cousin in this family. Well, I’ve opted out, not just from being a cousin, but from being a Van Lieshout. When I got married I changed my name like most women do, and my family quietly wrote me out of the story, all the while convincing themselves that it was the “mystical brown man” who took me from them.

No one on the other side of this story believes in white privilege, nor do they think they are racists or that they’ve done anything wrong, and because they are white a vast majority of people will believe them. I don’t believe I’ve done anything wrong either, and because I’ve broken with the white privilege narrative the vast majority of people will not believe me, and because Jesse is not white they won’t believe him either.

Here’s my perspective on the entire situation: I can’t protect my children from every single privileged, racist person out there (and we all know there are plenty of them) but I can protect them from the people I know to be privileged and racist, and to be so towards them directly and to our family generally. And so, because I’m white and also carry the invisible knapsack of white privilege (see the quintessential article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, by Peggy McIntosh by clicking here), I’ve chosen #14 from the list of Daily Effects of White Privilege presented by McIntosh:

14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

It’s really that simple. To me, this is life and death and these are my children. I’m all in. As a Native American my son is ten times more likely to be killed by the police as white men – a higher disparity than for any other race. One in three Native American women are raped in their lives, compared to one in five of all women. These are the realities of the world I must send my children – my son and my daughter – out in to, not as adults though; they will face the structural racism and implicit biases that leads to these statistics now, and from their own privileged and racist family members. Did I mention to you how deeply painful this is for me? I’m a white woman and have never been subject to racism directly until I became a parent and I was shocked and saddened that it came from those people who I’ve spent my whole life loving, but I’m not sorry for cutting them all off. If they aren’t racist themselves, they are at least privileged enough to distance themselves from this situation and our family at a time when we are hurting from the pain they’ve caused.

And I thought that was the end of the story.

A few weeks ago I was at my parents house, which frankly no longer feels like a socially-emotionally safe place after the incident and subsequent response, and my brother and his wife were there, which wasn’t completely unexpected. I’m still deeply hurt by the way we were treated, even though the treatment was also not expected, considering the research on the matter which indicates this is exactly what happens to white people who disrupt the privileged infrastructure of a family, or of our society as a whole (I kind of wish that weren’t a true statement, but really, it’s in the peer reviewed journals all you have to do is look). I ignored them both, as I would ignore anyone else from that family if I saw them. This week I received a letter in the mail, with no return address, which Jesse inadvertently opened; it was from my brother’s wife demanding some sort of apology. And last night, when the cousins were having their annual get together, I received a text message from my brother instructing me to “fix my crazy” and “make atonements” for my wrongdoings which have caused too much discourse among our family. Of course, its “my crazy” causing the discourse, insulting someone’s two-year-old son was totally appropriate and a mental health condition is the real problem.  

Did I mention that I’m not sorry?

Why I quit Facebook, at least for now

I don't write blog posts too often; only when I'm seething and can't seem to find the strength to articulate myself clearly, or at times directly. Ironically all this effort is typically lost because the people that need to be reading it are not among my limited readership. Alas, I still think it's worthwhile to explain why I quit Facebook... At least for now.

When I first joined the site I can remember the thrill of reconnecting with old friends, and the disappointment of learning that one of my very best friends had walked on. There was a novelty to sharing photos and news with the family you used to only see at Christmas, or in the case of far away relations, at funerals. My news feed was often filled with happy news from near and far that an old friend had wed or birthed children, or moved to California.

Now I've come to expect a different kind of disappointment from Facebook. One that sinks in as one friend after another reveals personal beliefs so incongruent with your own you wonder how you had ever been friends. They break the news with some clever news post or advice column that offends you, but is lauded by their immediate family and close friends as the best thing ever. Your appalled, embarrassed, even angry that they could take this alternative position on the social issues of our times and ties must be cut; and they may be feeling the same way about you from their perspective. Some of them unfriend you, you unfriend some of them, the friends list narrows to family and those friends with whom you share enough common ground to tolerate. Still I held on to the habit of Facebook, saying I mostly just share photos with my family and play scrabble.

Recently I started feeling like I'm in that episode of Futurama when everyone caught brain slugs and started acting like mindless pawns as more and more people I'm actually related to are doing this same thing. It causes me a great deal of conflict to look at these relatives and wonder when they lost their minds, or how they came to think in these divergent ways. One post after another, my brother supports the Duck Dynasty guy (are you kidding me? That shit is fake), my cousin thinks women should show respect by ignoring their husband's flaws and surrendering to their every sexual request no matter what (I'm offended that I even had to type that), and I simply can't go on. So I quit. I deleted the app from my iPad and phone. And every time I thought about Facebook today I came up with another reason not to:

1. Facebook was invented to simulate the college experience in an online setting so you could keep up with events at one party while attending another, or studying, I'm no longer in college and I don't have a social life worth simulating. 
2. I have the scrabble app on my iPad; I don't need Facebook to do that.
3. I can read the latest news without my newsfeed. There's an app for that (channel3000, channel 7, huffington post, etc) too.
4. When we moved to Madison I kept telling people about the "life by design vs. life by default" leadership lecture I listened to; I feel like I'm slipping into default: wake up, check email, check Facebook notifications, check Facebook newsfeed, etc.
5. My "life by design" doesn't include wasting time on a silly website that simulates experiences when I can experience my kids in real time, right now. Nor does it include spending time on or with people I generally and genuinely dislike, even when they are related to me.
6. I feel bad when I realize I don't like the person someone has grown up to become.
7. I feel like other people might think this way about me.
8. (1/12/2013) Jesse and I are trying to achieve some specific goals and stressing out about which of my relatives or remaining friends has most recently gone off the deep end doesn't further our goals. 

The list will probably grow a bit as I intend to stay disconnected for at least a week.

While I can't unlearn the unpleasant truths about these people, I can go back to seeing them in person, in the chaos of holiday or sadness of funerals, on occasions, without having to get to know them, and dislike them on Facebook.

Happy World Mental Health Day

It's been a while since I have blogged anything, I suppose all the excitement of summer time and expecting a second baby has distracted me from thinking on paper. Normally, I blog about political issues but today, on World Mental Health Day no less, something happened that made me angry enough I'm not sure what else to do. So I am going to write just a little bit about mental health, mostly my own history of questionable mental health and its accompanying lifetime of baggage.

When I was younger I was diagnosed with numerous mental health conditions by various psychologists and psychiatrists, and eventually it was determined that I had Manic-Depression, now commonly known as Bipolar Mood Disorder, after seeing a psychiatrist who specialized in juvenile psychiatry. The immediate course of action was a prescription for Lithium, still the gold standard for treating Bipolar, and regularly scheduled psychotherapy. For more than two decades now I have been living with this label, this condition, this affliction, this fall back excuse for bad behavior.

As an adult I have been known to participate in psychotherapy, take prescription medications, use illicit drugs, consume unreasonable quantities of alcohol, and isolate myself from family and friends in a constant effort to deal with this diagnosis. Most recently in 2006 after recognizing how my alcoholic tendencies were damaging my marriage I quit drinking and started therapy again after more than 10 years of self-medication and self-management. The prescription medications and regular psychotherapy helped me re-center myself and regain control of my life; a series of insurance changes at work eventually connected me with a new therapist at a time when I was having difficulty sticking to my medication routine and needing more effective psychotherapy. While I wasn't melting down or freaking out, I wasn't taking my pills and I couldn't get over the mental hurdle to start taking them, even though I was acknowledging that I was straying from my treatment plan in ways that have traditionally bordered on dangerous.

Just two days before my first appointment with my new therapist I learned I was pregnant with baby Nykola. And when I met the therapist and explained the problem with my medication schedule, and confessed it had been more than three months since I had taken any pills she was thrilled - telling me that it was my body's subconscious preparation for pregnancy, and how wonderfully in tune I must be! I was a little surprised and a little relieved that her reaction was not geared towards getting me back on medications, but rather at managing this diagnosis without medications during pregnancy and nursing.

We worked hard at recognizing the difference between having emotions, and reacting to emotions - it's totally normal to experience a wide range of emotions throughout your lifetime, what's sometimes not so normal for me is my reaction to those emotions, and therein lays both the problem and the solution. The hard work paid off and I am now pregnant with number two, and still medication-free after three years, without any of the "normal" problems associated with people who have a Bipolar diagnosis and aren't taking their medication. Mostly because I focus on experiencing my emotions, evaluating how they make me feel, and creating a thoughtful response, rather than just reacting to them - the difference is huge, dare I say it's even noticeable.    

The problem that has me upset is that anytime my response, no matter how controlled and thoughtful, is unpopular with the listener suddenly I become this diagnosis: unstable, in need of counseling and medication, and expected to grovel an apology to whomever was offended that includes the standard, fall back excuse of having this Bipolar diagnosis.  Never mind the fact that my diagnosing psychiatrist is now a felon after being convicted of implanting false memories of cannibalism, Satan worship, and baby sacrifices into multiple patients. Never mind that my both my previous and current therapist doubt the diagnosis' validity, both noting that I still benefit from regular psychotherapy but fall short of exhibiting symptoms that require, or even benefit, from medications. And never mind that the point of therapy, of putting in all this hard work, isn't now, and has never been to make other people happy with the responses to my emotions.

As a human being I am entitled to experience the full range my emotions without shame, I am entitled to respond to those emotions without shame, and if on any one occasion someone is unhappy with my response well that's too bad - because I am happy, happier now than I have ever been, and completely unapologetic about being happy without medication, even when it upsets others.  If it makes people feel better to blame the diagnosis when I speak my mind I guess that's fine, as long as they realize this is the behavior that perpetuates the stigma. 

Is A Recall Enough?

With the much anticipated recall election now a reality, and the spending on political advertising already an embarrassment in the headlines, we still don't have a clear picture of which gubernatorial candidates are actually going to appear on the primary ballot. In the this high-stakes race, where winner takes all, it seems like more than a little thought should have gone into this already, though it clearly has not, as evidenced by the broad base of potential candidates who lack consistent support from the electorate. The names in the democratic field abound with declared candidates, and those who are being encouraged to run, and those who are thinking about running, and even those who have declared they are not running: Falk, LaFollette, Cullen, Barca, Barrett, VineHout, Obey, and Feingold, did I forget any?

With all due respect to the candidates (and non-candidates alike), the fact is that among them all, only one stands a chance of guaranteeing a Democratic win, and it's the one who has declared he's not running for office. Frankly, as I see it, they are all career politicians - bought and paid for by outside interests long ago.  Jerry Garcia may have said it best when he said "Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil."  Now where does that leave us?

Falk has a strong record of fiscal responsibility, positive labor relations, and public safety, but lacks statewide appeal, particularly with moderate republicans who are voting against the current governor (as long as the candidate isn't Falk, or so they say). LaFollette benefits from name-recognition, and his unquestionable support of public employees and collective bargaining, but sadly may lack the financial resources to actually compete against the Koch brothers - who admit to financing Scott Walker's recall fight through their SuperPAC. Barrett had his chance, he was basically forced to run the first time, and hasn't jumped enthusiastically into this race so far. Cullen had declared in December 2011 that he would run if there were enough signatures, and VineHout is now officially running for office - both current legislators, with mixed voting records that are likely to help with some and hurt with others, again they lack they statewide appeal necessary to unite enough of Wisconsin's voters behind a single candidate, rather than against a single candidate. Peter Barca is another current legislator whose name floats around and there is a petition circulating asking him to run - just another reluctant politician being forced into candidacy, and I am just not sure someone who must be forced to run is the best person to represent my voice in this democracy.

In the 2010 election Wisconsin had the highest voter turnout in decades at just over 50 percent which means that the other 49 percent of the electorate chose not to vote, not to participate in our democracy, not to chose evil of any sort. Many of the people I know who do not vote make the choice because they feel like their voice is inconsequential, that no matter who is elected their opinion, their voice, will not be represented anyways - a pragmatically true statement, all considering. Yet, I choose one of those evils anyways, every chance I get, hoping that one of these days enough of those evils are going to come around to the type of logic, sensibility, and respect for humanity that can guide fair and just legislation to benefit the electorate, rather than the special interests who shamelessly lobby elected officials for policy and legislation that makes them weathy at the expense of the middle class' very existance.  

The mere existance of the middle class is questionable at best these days; by some estimates up to 75 percent of american families are one paycheck away from disaster. If our democracy is to be Of the People, For the People, and By the People, then how has to come to pass that the majority of americans are simply unable to run for office, unable to finance the mega-operation that is campaigning, an unable to gain any sort of recognition as a candidate?  Running for office has become reserved for only the wealthiest of citizens, the wealthiest of Wisconsinites represent us at both the State and National level. Would Russ Feingold's early and inexpensive "Garage Door" commercials from the 1980's even be possible today? Would they have an impact on the voting public, and would they increase the percentage of the electorate who visit the polls regularly - would people feel empowered by a simple message from a single real person? And would that one person really make a difference in the way we do business?

As I noted in the Paradigm Shift piece that originated this blog, its time to demand more of our legislators, of ourselves, and of our neighbors; time to insist that the voices heard in our statehouse reflect the electorate rather than the lobbiests. Now the question becomes "how do we accomplish this?" A mere recall isn't enough, replacing a republican governor with a democratic governor doesn't change anything. Even replacing a republican governor with a visionary leader, independent of the political system, one that embodies the sensible, progressive values of our state's founders, one who will hear the voices of all Wisconsinites, leaves our legislature filled with partisan career politicians bound by the dirty money that lines their pockets, and their legacy of improper and imoral legislation. By Shifting the Paradigm we have the opportunity to revitalize the middle-class, and the integrity of the state's legislature, to restore our government to the electorate.

Now, if only I ran the zoo…

Problem Solving, It's Not Rocket Science

When I wrote the Paradigm Shift piece earlier in the week I didn’t mean for it to be anything more than an expression of my perspective on the current state of humanity, with a few off-the-cuff recommendations that might actually lead to some real solutions here in Wisconsin. Generally speaking it was well received, even by people who don’t particularly share my view of the world, so I decided to post it as a blog, and write a follow up piece or two. Many people asked if I would write other posts specifically about women’s rights and the environment; as it turns out, I have a few more things to say about shifting the paradigm before I move on.

The recommendations I made were by no means all-inclusive, nor were they meant to be the final word on the matter, though they did illustrate my point, particularly in light of the comments I received from people who didn’t agree with them. Mainly the point that effective solutions are never as simple as implementing the will of one person (even when that one person is me, and I am sure I am correct). I want to further explore that notion by suggesting that it’s time for our state - the people and the government on both sides, together, and not separate - to engage in real problem solving that leads to effective solutions we can all agree upon and benefit from, and then move Forward setting an example for the nation to follow.

The fact is that truly collaborative problem solving requires everyone to open their minds to all sorts of ideas, even the craziest of ideas, and to engage in carefully guided exploration to identify the best ideas with the highest potential to result in the desired outcomes, to test those ideas, and to implement effective solutions based on the results of this exercise; at least that is how it’s done in the business world, and really within any institution engaged in quality or continuous improvement initiatives. Clearly, this is not the process Wisconsin’s legislature is using to resolve our issues, which is why hunger and homelessness continue to be real, tangible problems for the real people who call Wisconsin home. In fact, the inability of the state’s legislature to effectively engage in actual problem solving is the single largest barrier to job creation in Wisconsin because of the uncertainty surrounding the few job-related pieces of legislation passed - everyone wants to know, how long will they last? And, will they withstand the legal challenges in state and federal court?  Not that they are asking these questions all that frequently since most of Wisconsin's recent legislation focuses on reducing women from actual human beings to mere beasts of burden, and disenfranchising minorities and the poor - but I digress.

When I was a public employee working at one of Wisconsin’s technical colleges I went to a conference where I took a workshop called "Introduction to Compression Planning with Storyboarding," which is a facilitation technique used to garner consensus when the stakes are high by utilizing a series of guidelines to drive effective discussions among stakeholders with diverging viewpoints. During the first phase participants are asked to Suspend Judgment, Listen to Each Other, Spin Thoughts into Rich Ideas, and Avoid Speeches; during the second phase participants are asked to Challenge Ideas Not People, Merge Ideas to Create Strength, Focus on the Unique, and Narrow Down to Manageable Few. By creating a framework for effective discussions, within an environment where a diversity of opinions generates creative and unique ideas, effective solutions rise to the top, independent of political affiliations.

What a novel idea it is to borrow a technique from the private sector, and implement it in our statehouse to bring working relationships back into the realm of civil discourse? If it can be agreed that Wisconsin is in need of effective solutions to a number of issues, including but not necessarily exclusive of those I cited in the Paradigm Shift post, and we recognize that there are numerous techniques proven to be effective in developing real solutions, then we should be able to agree that perhaps our legislature needs to engage in one or more of these techniques - under the supervision of an independent third-party facilitator and with the transparency necessary to restore the public’s faith in their actions - to identify, develop, and implement real solutions to our real problems.

Now, if only I ran the Zoo…    

A Paradigm Shift for Wisconsin, and Perhaps the Nation

Wisconsin has always been a progressive state - we sent a man racing on horseback to ensure that Wisconsin was the first state to ratify the 19^th amendment of the U.S. Constitution which granted women the right to vote in 1920, and soon after established Wisconsin’s chapter of the League of Women Voters.  Long before that, the Grand Old Party (GOP) was founded on March 20, 1858 - only ten years after Wisconsin became a state - in Ripon, Wisconsin, where the term Republican was coined as the name of our nation’s anti-slavery party. The progressive values espoused by these actions are broadly indicative of the values of the people who populated Wisconsin during the settlement of the western U.S. and strived to create a state where hard work, mutual respect, and democracy became the cornerstones of our social fabric.

After living out west for nearly a decade I can attest that being from Wisconsin carries certain responsibilities because others have the highest expectations of us. Specifically, Wisconsinites are known coast-to-coast for receiving a top-notch public education and possessing an unmatched work ethic. To be from Wisconsin means something, at least it used to.

The state’s motto says it all - Forward - yet here we sit, stationary at best, and perhaps even moving backward to a state of old fashioned English-like rule, like that which the pilgrims fled from in the first place, where politicians legislated morality based solely on the religious beliefs of the rich and powerful. The GOP has shifted radically in this direction over the past few years, leaving behind truly conservative values in favor of radical oppression of women and their children, minorities, and the poor, overt voter suppression designed to silence and disenfranchise these same demographics, deceptive legislative practices, and outright law-breaking, particularly as it relates to campaign finance and election laws. The GOP’s platform has swung radically to the right, and Democrats are engaged in an ongoing battle with them over who might be right, or perhaps correct, on any number of issues, and together, but separately, they pass legislation that satisfies no one, and provides no real solutions to our current problems - all the while, both sides are accepting money, donations, and gifts from lobbyists who have cheapened our statehouse to nothing more than a shell. In the end they are all the same: bought and paid for by corporate and special interests who are in no way representing you and me, the electorate of Wisconsin. 

Meanwhile, here we sit, the electorate as real people, with real problems and no real hope for a solution on the horizon among all the bickering, to which there appears to be no end in sight. By real people and real problems what I am talking about is hungry children and homeless families. Real people who are unemployed and struggling to make ends meet to ensure their families have enough to eat and a place to live, not to mention equitable and affordable health insurance and access to high quality healthcare. Families who send their children to failing and desperately underfunded schools, without any other option for the education that is now nearly always required for gainful employment. People who are living in communities with a rapidly deteriorating physical infrastructure and who are further subject to a caustically eroded social fabric. And that’s just here in Wisconsin.

Clearly we have failed, as a government, as a state, as a society, and as humans. Just one hungry child in Wisconsin is one too many - and this holds true for all of our failures, particularly as it relates to homelessness, hunger, education, and community safety. As a state, as a society, as human beings, it is incumbent upon us to do better, to demand better, of ourselves and our neighbors, our elected officials, and our government. So long as our politicians, on both sides of the aisle, continue to be bought and paid for by special interests they will never live up to these expectations, and there can be no new and innovative solutions to resolve the issues that have spiraled out of control over the past 20 plus years, particularly the largest social injustice issues of hunger, homelessness, healthcare/health insurance, and unemployment.  Current estimates for political advertising in the 2012 election season eclipse $32 Billion - can you imagine how many families that amount of money could feed instead?

By providing all Wisconsin residents affordable and equitable access to real health insurance (not some discount program with limited services) and the highest quality healthcare the state resolves two issues with a multiplier effect that ripples throughout our social fabric. First, it is consistent with our humanitarian values to ensure every resident of our state has equitable and affordable health insurance and access to high quality healthcare, and it further rises to the expectation that we must do better for ourselves, and demand more of our government if we are to live up to the values our state was founded upon. Second, it removes a substantial burden and cost for employers doing business in the state. By providing health insurance and healthcare to every single resident, the state’s employers no longer have to pay for benefits, nor employ personnel to negotiate and administer workplace programs related to health insurance. This includes public schools, colleges, municipalities, and your neighborhood manufacturer - you want to talk about job creation, do you?  

The job creation aspect goes a long way to resolving hunger and homelessness - and I am not talking about dirty, dangerous mining jobs or minimum wage box-store jobs that people are admittedly grateful to have, but fall short of providing the income necessary to support Wisconsin’s families. We are talking about modern manufacturing careers, high-tech biotechnology careers, and other high-demand, high-wage industry sectors that provide safe working conditions, and wages that are sufficient to support Wisconsin’s families.

The other part of the jobs equation is a workforce that supports innovation and creativity to ensure Wisconsin’s firms can compete on a global scale with the quality and value today’s global consumers demand. Wisconsin can only live up to employers’ expectations if our education system produces graduates who are work- and/or college-ready without remediation. Current data indicates that more than 50 percent of incoming freshmen at public universities require remediation in Mathematics, Reading, or Writing - and more often than not, in all three subjects. Cost savings that schools realize when the state provides health insurance to its residents aren’t enough to resolve the problems within our schools, though it goes a long way under the direction of a visionary leader who recognizes that ALL children can learn, and learn at high levels when exposed to consistently high-quality instruction structured around clear, high standards and powerful, thinking curriculum.

This requires a paradigm shift in education where teachers are constantly challenged to find new and better ways to deliver instruction, empowered with the resources and professional development necessary to implement meaningful, evidence-based changes, fairly compensated, and revered like the professionals they are when students demonstrate academic gains. Furthermore, teachers whose students aren’t being successful must be supported by school leadership, and frankly the entire community, as they grow into effective teachers or other professions. Protecting the comfort of adults at the expense of our children can’t be tolerated any longer; teachers must live up to the awesome responsibility they have been charged with: to help raise other peoples’ children. Or they must find a new line of work.

With health insurance and healthcare off the table, and the resurrection of a first-class educational system in Wisconsin that feeds a high quality workforce to attract employers and create jobs, our state can easily resume the long-standing practice of collective bargaining. To be effective though, collective bargaining must be revisioned to ensure that every unionized worker is as good as the union’s best worker, and that unions discontinue the practice of protecting all members at any cost - when a worker isn’t performing to adequate standards and expectations they cannot continue to be granted union protections from discipline and termination. By charging the state’s unions with the responsibility of revisioning collective bargaining in Wisconsin within this framework, Wisconsin’s worker’s rights are guaranteed to be protected and worker quality becomes unmatched - like it once had been.

The only real question is “are we human enough to do this?”  To set aside our religious and political differences and demand the changes necessary to ensure no resident of Wisconsin goes hungry or homeless, or is without access to health insurance or healthcare, or is unable to get a good, family-supporting job. It’s not as hard as you think:

1 - Forbid all lobbying of Wisconsin’s politicians, in and out of our statehouse, under penalty of criminal law assessed against both the lobbyist and the politician. We must demand that our legislature answer to the electorate, and no one else, especially not corporate personhoods.

2 - Transition to a part-time, volunteer legislature that only conducts actual legislative business (sorry Aaron Rodgers, and Lactococcus lactis the state’s official microbe), with no time wasted on honorariums and other pomp and circumstance.

3 - Require any politician, PAC, SuperPAC, or any other political or social special interest group that wishes to clog our air waves (tv, radio, internet) with advertising donate $5 for every $1 spent to Wisconsin’s chapters of SecondHarvest/Feeding America. There is just no excuse for the excessive spending when there are hungry people in our state.

4 -Simplify our state’s tax code so every single resident and corporation based in Wisconsin, or having a physical location in Wisconsin, pays a flat tax rate on every single dime they earn, along a scale from five to 25 percent based on the previous years’ income, without deductions or loopholes of any kind. This is what human(e) people mean by shared sacrifice.

Now, if only I ran the zoo…