I must say reading the news story about panic buttons being installed at the Wisconsin State Capitol was amusing. It was not the cost to taxpayers that troubled me , since the cost is small when it comes to government spending. It is not that I am uncaring about those who work in the building, after all I once was a staffer under the dome.
No, my amusement with the story is that there seems to be a sense among some who work at the Capitol that no direct feedback about policy should ever enter the building. No blow-back from controversial policies should ever be felt within the marbled walls. For some staffers all the side effects of policy should remain outside the building.
That is not how democracy works, or should work.
When I left my job at the Capitol one of the top considerations before taking a new position was to find one where I could actually see the good which my work was achieving.
It is one thing to work with a legislator and craft policy in Madison, hoping that all the considerations have been factored in for success. But it is another thing to never see the actual benefits of the policy in action.
One of the (humbly speaking here) smartest things I ever worked on was protecting underwater shipwrecks in Lake Michigan around “Death’s Door”. It was a historically prudent policy, and a wise investment for state tourism.
But since I do not know how to swim, let only dive deep to the depths of shipwrecks much of the good we were doing in Madison was never known to me personally.
The fact is, in both large and small ways, legislative offices impact the lives of people every day. Most times the results happen away from Madison, and are never registered in a direct way so those who shaped the policies see the reaction.
The collective bargaining issue changed all that to the point where a continuous array of protestors makes sure that their concerns are presented daily at the statehouse. There is no way that those inside the Capitol are not aware of the choices they made, or helped make, for the rest of Wisconsin.
This is where my amusement with the panic buttons comes into the story.
Just because there is a protestor with a sign, or a singer with a song book does not mean that danger hangs over the statehouse. There is no reason to fear democracy in action. Making a political play by placement of the buttons as if to underscore a danger where it does not exist is really a new low for the Walker administration.
There might be a lot of bruised feelings, politically speaking at the Capitol, but that is a far cry from real danger.
Those who worked in the Capitol Friday, January 15, 1988 know something about real danger at the statehouse.
That was the day of the tragic and deadly shooting at the Dane County Courthouse, just a short distance from the Capitol. The statehouse was locked down, and there was genuine concern about something dangerous possibly happening to state workers. Being in a ground floor office (west wing, first office in from State Street entrance) made for a very tense afternoon for the staff. Anyone working there that day knows the dread that filled the building. So I certainly understand real concerns that people have about safety at the statehouse.
I have attended many protests over the time Governor Walker has been in office, and understand there is a strong passion about the issues. But I have never witnessed anything that would give a worker or elected official reason for concern about actual danger.
During the years I worked at the Capitol we were told to call security and state “I have a problem with my typewriter” as a way to notify them of a threat. In this day and age panic buttons are more understandable in terms of technology.
But at the end of the day the placement of these was a political stunt aimed at reducing bruised feelings, and has very little to do with dealing with any actual danger presented by protestors. In other words, whatever money was spent from taxpayers for these buttons, was done for purely political reasons.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
the only thing those buttholes have to fear is fear it’s self