Wisconsin and Me

I’m a little edgy after watching the police in Wisconsin supporting the protestors instead of the Governor. They wouldn't move the protestors out of the capitol building. They bullhorned and raised their fists in solidarity with the drum circle. (Can a "talking stick" be far behind? Although, that would be a blessing in disguise as only one of them could bellow at a time.) And how long did it take them to rescue the Republican legislator who was mobbed by the protestors?

I gotta tell you, folks, I’m no longer confident that if I need the police, they will show up. I don't sleep soundly in my bed anymore, sure in the knowledge that the police department is watching over my family. Do I still believe that old chestnut they hand around, that the members of the police department are there to Protect and Serve? Uh, Uh. Nope. Not anymore. Not after Wisconsin.

But it’s helped me come to an important decision. I'm going to arm myself, my family and my home. That’s right…guns. Big guns, small guns…whatever I can get my hands on. I don’t care if it is legal and I don’t care if it is right. In my mind, at this time, it is necessary.

I might even take to wandering neighborhoods, checking on the houses of family members and good friends. I could then invite some other disgruntled Americans who are watching this display of “solidarity and support” the police are displaying for the unions up there, to join me in my happy band of armed guardians.

Does that sound like vigilantism? You bet it does. If I don’t prepare to protect my family and myself, who will? The police department? I’m not willing to bet the lives of my children on the hope the police will come to my family’s aid…even if I need them when some of their “brothers and sisters” are protesting something. I don’t have that luxury anymore. Not after Wisconsin.

Being almost chronically honest and law-abiding (except for the random impure thought), I've had no need to distrust the police. If they arrested someone, or, God forbid, shot someone, I felt it was their job to know what was going on. I certainly didn't understand the situation they were in. I believed they must surely have a good reason to do what they did.

Now, I have to have doubts. If I read that a policeman shot a man coming out of, say, Walmart, I now wonder if maybe one of their "brothers and sisters" needed that guy out of the way. I hate these doubts. They make me feel unprotected and unsafe. I think that's what I resent the most...the newly narrowed eyes when I read those reports. I just don't know anymore.

I hear people talking about how important what is happening in Wisconsin is to the future of our country. I agree one hundred percent. It has certainly changed my future.

To the Wisconsin police: you are angering and frightening the American people. But as that seems to be okay with you, I can assure you it is also okay with me. I’ve turned the page on you and I know what to do. Thank you for a most valuable lesson.