Quilting and The Budget Repair Bill

WTF?  Really?  Quilting and the Budget Repair Bill?  What is this woman thinking?

Quite frankly, that's all I've been doing is thinking.  I've been thinking about all of the people who are affected by this bill, all the people who are not affected by this bill and all of the people who are willing to go to the Capital to voice their opinion, whether in opposition or in support.  Will this change my livelihood?  No.  Do I have any children in any public school?  No.  Then what's up?

I am not a public sector employee, but several of my clients are public sector employers.  I have many friends who are public sector employees and I see how this bill is tearing up both sides.  I struggled with my own views and how to put them into perspective and finally figured out that perspective.  Quilting.

I wondered what would happen if I suddenly had to pay an additional 5.8% for fabric (for public sector employees this would be the equivalent of the retirement benefits).  Would I stop quilting?  Probably not.  Then I asked myself how I would feel if I had to pay an additional 6% to 12.6% for thread, notions, etc. (for public sector employees this is the equivalent of health care costs)  Would I stop quilting?  Probably not.  But then I dug a little deeper.  What if my choice of patterns was taken away?  Would I then continue to quilt?  This is getting a little dicey.  Now, let's assume that not only was my choice of patterns taken away, but I could not have a say in my fabric, thread, and how and when the quilt was going to be completed.  Further, if I made a mistake, my quilt could be taken away and discarded and there was nothing to protect the work I had done.  Now would I continue to quilt?

I began quilting because others who participate in this hobby were enthusiastic and shared their enthusiasm with me.  How enthusiastic would they be if there was restricted choice, or no choice at all, on their creativity.  Furthermore, my love for quilting grew the more I learned about this art.  People like my mother-in-law Sue, who taught me basic rotary and piecing skills.  Or Vicki from Piece by Piece who taught me how paper piece.  There's also the many, many teachers and instructors who taught me free-motion quilting, etc.  Now I teach others because I am enthusiastic.  My enthusiasm stems from choice and a voice of how, when and what materials I can use to make my quilts and bags.  How enthusiastic and eager would I be to teach with limited choice?

So there it is.  What is the incentive to become a teacher in Wisconsin?  What will happen to the enthusiasm that I have seen on the face of so many good teachers?  What will happen to an education system that claims it wants the best and brightest, but snuffs out opportunity with such disregard for the best and the brightest.  Giving our public sector employees the right to bargain their rights is no different than giving any other person in any other profession, art, hobby, etc. the right to expression.  Such expression in no way will adversely effect any budget.  What it will do, I fear, is make very ugly, plain quilts with no color or creative threads. 

I always remember that it was because of a teacher (Gerald Steinacker) that told me that I was creative.  It was a teacher (Susan Gift) that taught me to write well.  It was because of education that I was able to leave an impoverished childhood and be whatever I wanted to be.