Our Representatives are Supposed to Represent Us!

The important thing we have to remember is that our representatives are supposed to represent us, the citizens of Wisconsin, not the insurance companies. We elect them. Our system was designed that way so that power is distributed to the people, not moneyed interests. But we have to hold our representatives to this trust because money can buy influence. Believe me, though, these people in Madison want to get re-elected, and they don't want to tangle with special needs parents. We are tenacious and will fight like angry mother bears to get what we need for our kids. Many of these politicians, Assembly members especially, have been elected by very small margins of people (someone was telling me today that their representative was elected by around 100 votes). That tells us it would be a very small matter to swing an election if we are organized and demand attention to our needs. And that is what special need parents are best at, all these IEP meetings, filling out forms, fighting bureaucracy to get our kids help are a fine training ground for political organizing. And we are not alone. If people are concerned about insurance companies leaving Wisconsin, don't be. There are parent activists organizing all over the country to get help for their kids. There are laws in 17 states demanding this coverage. Minnesota and Indiana just recently added coverage in their states. And Texas just passed this through their assembly!

The insurance companies won't have any place to hide. They put profits before people for long enough, and we are going to get the legislation passed and get coverage for our kids. We'll make the calls, make the visits, and in the end, we will win, because we are right!