Wisconsin's prairie fire.

• Author: Conniff, Ruth
• Position: Political Eye

I was in Washington, D.C., when the protests started in Madison. So I got my first reports remotely--from my first-grader and fourth-grader.

Their teachers were part of the sick-out by school staff in Madison and Milwaukee. Their grandfather took them downtown to march with thousands of people into the state capitol building. By coincidence, they entered the building right behind their teachers from Lake View Elementary, and got a big cheer.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"It was awesome!" My fourth-grader said on the phone.

The whole community rallied around its teachers. Parents, staff, and students turned up together. The Republicans had picked the wrong target. For all their rhetoric about resentment of teachers' unions, the public school community in our state, which still maintains excellent schools, is powerful.

My daughter liked the signs that said, "Walk like an Egyptian" and, "Scott Walker, We Don't Allow Bullies in Our School!" She joined in the chant, "Union-busting, that's disgusting!"

On the second day of protests, my kids made their own signs. My first-grader wrote: "Up with the Teachers! Down with Walker!" My fourth-grader, who likes big words, wrote, "Scott Walker, You're Incorrigible. Your Decisions Are Horrible. Take a Hike."

They also got quite a civics lesson. They know all about the bicameral legislature. They know all about labor organizing. They know how bills become law.

Most of all, they know about democracy. They know citizens can play a powerful role in shaping the policies that affect them. They know budget decisions in the state capitol touch them personally. They know how thrilling it is to be part of a movement, to care passionately about something, and to join with others to stand up for what they believe in.

Out in Washington, the mainstream media's spin on what was happening in Madison was dispiriting. The pundits missed the point.

Candy Crowley of CNN said that the Democrats were "spinning" the battle in Wisconsin to say that it is about the right to organize, because that is a more sympathetic story line than budget cuts. But my kids could tell her that by taking away public employees' right to negotiate, Walker was putting their teachers at a permanent disadvantage.

Mary Matalin said on CNN that the teachers' unions were out of touch. She said the only schools that work are charters and private schools that have broken from the unions. Public schools in this country amount to "child abuse," she said, over tape of my kids' teachers and classmates and their friends protesting.

What a lot of nonsense.

My kids, who go to a largely...