Process Does Matter

Being married to a conservative Republican, I live every day with comments about the recall--people just didn't get their way, unions are the ones behind the protests and recall, Walker is making a good difference, etc. Between my husband's comments and Facebook posts, as well as the ever-present Fox News, I've heard it all and have mostly learned to tune it out.

Today, my 17-year-old son asked me to remind him what the recall was about. I told him what some people (i.e., his dad) think, and then I told him what I think.

For me, it truly isn't about collective bargaining. Rather, the collective bargaining decisions represented what was, to me, a much deeper and more serious problem: the lack of decent process. At no point did I feel like Scott Walker was giving even a pretense of listening to anyone. Listening to others doesn't mean you have to agree with them. It does mean, however, that you should work hard at understanding their concerns and developing a sense of shared goals--and then working together on figuring out the best way to get there. If he had truly given a chance for people's voices to be heard and addressed, I would not be in support of this recall. What I object to is being silenced and invisible to an administration.

It isn't about unions. It isn't about the fact that when I was a public employee, I was about to have an extra $300 taken away from each paycheck at a time when my husband had been in the unemployment cyclone off and on for two years already. It isn't about what got decided or what the votes were. It is about the fact that too many people who lived in this state were ignored and denigrated. It is about the fact that rights that were established over a period of decades were eradicated with glee. It is about the fact that just one of those jobs that were promised would've made a huge difference to my family. It is about the fact that my elected representatives weren't decent enough to do what they felt needed doing without a modicum of kindness and respect for the people who would have to live with the results of their decisions.

So Scott Walker, if you had made the same decisions but had been decent and humane about it, you wouldn't be where you are right now. Process really does matter.