Day One

It is quite understandable if you are not finished grieving today. Public education in West Bend was dealt a very serious blow with the election of Vinney Pheng to the school board. Take a few days, put politics out of your mind, it is really okay. When you're ready, the challenges will still be here. We certainly have our work cut out for us, but that is no reason to give up. As Noam Chomsky likes to say, the US is really an organizer's dream because there is great discontent out there along with great energy, it would take only the effort of sincere organizers to turn that discontent into positive, progressive change. Polls consistently show attitudes among the majority to be Social Democratic, people are willing to hear a message of progress and commonwealth. But American individualism, lack of social cohesion, and the atomization that accompanies everything from air conditioning to television means many people hold attitudes of cooperation in isolation. This tendency is reinforced by our economic makeup, while we arguably have never been more interconnected and dependent on each other, specialization and division of labor make it ever harder to relate to others.
The separation between people caused by all of these factors is one major reason why public schooling is so vital to American society. If we put aside the more sinister ideas about public schools from people like John Taylor Gatto and concentrate on what schools actually do, the reasons why authoritarian right-wingers desire so badly to destroy public education become rather obvious. Broadly speaking, public school systems are a covenant within a community. Public funds are pooled to build classrooms, hire and compensate qualified teachers, maintain the standards accepted by the majority in that community along with standards respecting the entire nation, and enlighten and protect our great treasures; our children. All students are brought together to learn not just reading, writing, and arithmetic; but social interaction under practical supervision.
Sure it is not perfect, but public schools are under public control. Theoretically, we can work together to improve the quality of education our children receive. But as Mr. Pheng proved, demagogues can manipulate voters by playing on their emotions and fears. They misdirecti real concerns into unfounded fears, and manufacture problems to present destructive and harmful "solutions." Suddenly, inclusion and pluralism are destructive ideas, creativity and exploration are harmful, and of course we simultaneously are paying too much in taxes and cannot afford education. Compartmentalized thinking, egged on by demagogues, separates the public services we all want from the costs and funding necessary to maintain them. Taxes have been made into a dirty word, while in an earlier age Justice Louis Brandeis could reason that "taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society" today government allegedly functions by magic.
Trying to argue on those terms will always be a losing proposition. In the coming days, weeks, months our ideas should always be presented in terms of commonwealth. There will always be people who simply reject the idea of community on principle, in the story we construct for our side these are the villains. As Drew Westen argued, politics is a story and there have to be good guys and bad guys, as we make our case for commonwealth and community the selfish citizens who want the benefits of civilization but want others to pay for it are the enemy. It is very important to keep our ideas alive between elections, providing an alternative story for people who believe in community but in the absence of a progressive storyline may fall into isolation again or worse, fall for the next Vinney Pheng. We are here to stay and will not give up.
This is a fight we can win, truth, justice, and the American way are on our side. But it will take work, when you are ready to join the campaign we will be here. And remember, we all have different talents and capacities, doing something is much better than doing nothing. From each according to their gifts, to each according to their need. West Bend is badly in need of your energy and talents, and every little bit makes a difference. Today is simply Day One of the effort.