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By Keith Poniewaz (Originally posted at:  http://on.fb.me/gHb1db)

Many of my friends know I am not an activist -educator.  Indeed, I am the exact opposite of an activist— I don’t recall ever having shared my political opinions on anything in the classroom (maybe that Hitler and Stalin weren’t such great guys).  I’m also not an idealist, I’m a cynic and a believer in realpolitik.

But I have taken the events in Wisconsin very personally and idealistically:  I have emailed the governor multiple times, I have emailed representatives, my Facebook is covered in announcements, I’ve “liked” anything supporting the protests,  and on and on.  Much, I imagine, to the chagrin, irritation, and surprise of many of you.

Why do I take these events so personally?  Because they speak very deeply to me about what is so wrong in this country. 

Here is the fact:  like many of you, I grew up with a level of privilege that most people in the world would consider unbelievable.  I grew up in a school district that was remarkable for the quality and compassion of its teachers.  I grew up in a family, community and a state that valued education and educated debate.  I am eternally grateful for this opportunity.  In so far as I’ve become a left-coast liberal academic, I am at my heart committed to the values that my education instilled in me.  Wisconsin, for all its faults, has remained representative of these values to me: The “community” is important and educated members of these communities are important.

Because of the quality of my education and upbringing, I had opportunities afforded to me that many people have not.  I received a top-notch education and could have chosen among many very lucrative career options.  I quite likely could have joined up with the oligarchy and caused the current recession while enjoying a very lucrative livelihood for myself peddling investment products.  My wine cellar would be awesome.  Many of you think I’m an idiot for this choice, and many of you would be right

Instead, I have chosen to become an educator.  I chose that not because I disparage the path to Wall Street or K Street, but because I value the contributions others have made to me and because I relish the opportunity to pass those values on to others, especially against a culture that far too often forgets that there are values and ideas that go beyond their own mean lives, that there is a world beyond the end of your nose, that our Republic works only as well as its citizens and citizens only work when educated.  I have chosen, in a somewhat old-fashioned way, a career in the “public service.”   However, because I’ve chosen a career in the public service does not mean I am inferior to those on Wall Street.  That does not mean that I don’t deserve the right (granted not a natural right, but one guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Board)  to fight for a middle-class lifestyle nor the right to argue against those who work for the oligarchs interests.

Above all, it does not mean that I am a “freeloader.”  I am quite the opposite, I am sacrificing my material gains (and believe me they would be considerable, much more than many would imagine) so that the children of you who view me as a freeloader can get an education and take advantage of the benefits education provides.  And I wish those of you who’ve seen your rights and benefits diminish and costs go up and blame this on the “Government” would realize that as long as you keep pretending that those marching on Madison are the problem, not the solution, your costs will go up, your benefits will decline and the life you hoped for will disappear.  That, in fact, the opposite is true: we need more groups who will stand up to the moneyed interest groups in this country, that we need more people fighting against those who would give marginal tax breaks for the richest while attacking the rights of those who serve the public.  That we need more groups who, like Warren Buffett, realize that it is ridiculous that his secretary pays a higher marginal tax rate than he does and fight to correct that imbalance.  Unions may have been corrupt or flabby in the 1980s and there are a few bad apples today, but today there is no more flabby organization than the top of a corporation and its interests and today is not 1980.  While today teachers are willing to sacrifice, how many executives at major corporations took pay cuts?  In short, it is not Corporations who serve the public or fight for the public, but the public must serve itself and fight for itself.  This is what the teachers in Madison are fighting for.

I no longer live in Wisconsin, but when I look around wherever I am in the world and I think of what is best in America, I think of Wisconsin and its ideals.  I think of its teachers and firefighters and nurses and policemen.  I think of a sense of community, where it isn’t your money or profession that determine your worth, but your values and they are values that come from living close to the ground. 

And the current State Government reminds me how much of that picture I’ve been making up and perhaps how wrong my choice might have been.