Heard in the Main Tap

From an article in the Star Tribune 2/22/11 – Pam Louwagie

Protests grip, divide Wisconsin

Across Wisconsin, the showdown at the Capitol is consuming normally polite conversation. Before it flared up a week ago, few had reason to question their neighbors' views on unions, government and taxes. Now, the topic is difficult to ignore. "It's such a heated subject," said 43-year-old Doug Newton, who, reflecting his politics, chose a stool in the middle of a long wooden bar at the Main Tap in Oregon, Wis., a town of about 9,000 in farm country 10 miles south of Madison. In small towns especially, taking a stand can mean lost friendships and business. "Everybody's being really careful what they say," Newton said.

Well, not everybody.

"I think it's ridiculous. I think [the protesters] should go home where they belong," said 86-year-old June Starr, who sat on one end of the bar with her husband, sipping on a glass of blush wine. "Ninety-nine percent of them are making too much damn money. All three of our children have been out of work" in the private sector, she said.

What can this wonderful text from Ms. Louwagie tell us, not just about the situation in Wisconsin, but about world and U.S. political economy? Contrary to the comic setup for the quote from the piece's heroine, June Starr, I'm inclined to accept that Mr. Newton's statement, "Everybody's being really careful what they say", applies to her as well.

There are many reasons for being careful about what you say on politics. Certainly a glass of blush wine can loosen the tongue but it seems like nothing can get the conversation flowing in contemporary America like facile agreement with reactionary commonplaces. Ms. Starr has recognized just such a situation and it has stirred her to point out the obvious absurdity. Objects and people out of place have always been a staple of comedy. At 86 our speaker has surely earned the right to voice her opinion while her husband stays silent and to patronize the Main Tap instead of tending their home. And she has the life experience to recognize just where it is that people belong in this day and age when they are being seen, in growing numbers, nearly everywhere that they have no business being.

Having set the comedy premise she now focuses on the root of the problem, people making too damn much money. Ninety-nine percent of them anyway. Because there is one percent of the country who needs to make as much money as physically possible or we are all damned. It's predestined. Of course I'm aware this is not what she meant. Likely she is just allowing for the possibility of some public worker, somewhere, who is worth her hire. In any case, there is wide agreement, both at the Main Tap and in the citadels of austerity that the ongoing economic catastrophe has nothing to do with inadequate demand. At a time when Keynesian stimuli are needed more than ever and yet less effective than ever the political alignment on display in Wisconsin is ensuring that the economy will consume itself down to the last dollar rather than take the one road out of the wilderness available to it.

June Starr and her family are aware of the gravity of the situation. My guess is that the children are approaching retirement age and that "out of work" is no laughing matter. Without more information on the family's situation and politics we can make few conclusions. Ms. Starr feels that hard times justify hard times and the squeeze on her children authorize both her position as a spokeswoman before this stranger from The Cities and the depth of her resentment of all those who have dared to venture out of doors.

Rosie's Main Tap, Oregon, WI

"This is a godsend for us," said Ken Clary, who owns a small gourmet popcorn shop near the Capitol. "We're up probably 300 to 400 percent."