Looking ahead, then, it is incumbent on those of us who believe Wisconsin is on the wrong path to dial down our vitriol toward Walker and instead choose from among a full menu of ways to make our state, but especially our city, a better place in these cloudy times. There is certainly no shortage of headings from which activists might choose to band together.

Let’s begin with advocacy for our beleaguered K-12 public education system, which has been the first and foremost target in Walker’s governorship. If there is a path – volunteerism or political advocacy -- to support teachers and defend accurate, non-jingoistic curriculum, we should take it. After all, the charter school movement and its wealthy funders will be expecting a return on investment from the GOP in ways as yet unclear.

As a corollary, we must protect UW-Madison’s stature as a leading research university stature against those who would curtail -- for ideological reasons -- work in stem cells and generally treat the institution as one giant trade school. This will be especially important as UW competes to hire talented researchers who might not be so keen on joining our current political culture.

In Madison, there will be opportunity in 2015 to be part of an emerging movement on racial-justice issues led by the African-American community.