A better world
Everyone has a story to tell. As one of WDRT Community Radio’s hosts on the show Conversations, I have the great pleasure of engaging with guests and their stories. My most recent conversation was with Ben Wilson, a resident of Viroqua. Ben is the regional organizer for Citizen Action of Wisconsin . Citizen Action is a non-partisan issue based group that has been organizing in Wisconsin for nearly forty years. It is member led and member funded and committed to fighting climate change, expanding healthcare to everyone, regardless of income, and electing leaders who align with their mission, which is to create a better life for all in Wisconsin.
Ben’s job is to help local members as they strive to create a better world.
As I get to know someone I am always curious, how did they get from point A to point B? What informed them? What hurdles did they cross? What occurrences in their lives gave way to their choices?
Ben’s enthusiasm for life and his passion for his work made listening to him easy.
“I grew up in a small, family owned super club in Lansing, Iowa. For thirty years my parents owned Clancy’s Super Club. They lost the restaurant in the economic crash of 2008.” That was Ben’s first wake up call to the importance of paying attention to the power brokers in Washington, DC and Wall Street.
Ben went on to college in La Crosse and spent most of his twenty’s working in marketing. “I helped plan and execute marketing events across the country. I would spend six - nine months at a time traveling. It was an amazing time in my life. I got to see and experience so many incredible places…Unfortunately it left me feeling empty. I would look back at the last nine months of my life and think, “what did I do? I made Pepsi a few million dollars but what am I doing to create a better world?” Ben began experiencing what he referred to as a “crisis of faith”.
After working odd jobs for a bit, Ben returned to Wisconsin in 2015 and got involved with the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. He began to believe a better world was possible. Heart broken when Sanders did not get the 2016 nomination, Ben then worked as a paid canvasser for Hillary Clinton and Russ Feingold. Those losses re-enforced his desire to work towards improving life in the United States. In 2018, Ben continued to organize politically and helped to elect Tony Evers and re-elect Tammy Baldwin.
Now as a full time, community organizer with Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Ben is no longer accountable to political campaigns or big money donors. His work directly impacts the lives of people in Wisconsin and specifically people here in the Driftless region. He explained his conviction this way, “Each of us have a moral responsibility to work to create a better world. I am accountable to my members. I work with my members to create campaigns that can change the world.”
Ben’s passion and his own personal story led him to be an advocate for healthcare as a basic human right. He also works to create a world that is fair and equitable to everyone regardless of race, income, sexual orientation, gender identity or geographic location.
He is also very clear on his position regarding climate change. “I believe we must address (this) so that the next generation has a habitable planet. We must take the climate crisis seriously and move the economy away from fossil fuels and become net carbon neutral.”
My conversation with this vibrant man came as the news that the pandemic exploding around the world was hitting home. And now a few weeks into “stay safe at home” policies, many more of us are beginning to realize the importance of healthcare for all. As the number of infected people rise, we must face the realities before us. We have met this moment unprepared and now must work hard and fast to surpass the pandemic. As calls for proper gear for healthcare workers and the dire need for ventilators goes out across the nation, we are realizing that we are only as safe as the most vulnerable among us. The moral responsibility that Ben spoke so eloquently about is now resting upon our shoulders. And on a brighter note, the skies and the seas are getting cleaner, as this pause in human activity is forced upon us.
We are engaged in an upheaval the likes of which most of us have never seen before. Maybe it will inspire a massive awakening making Ben’s wish to create a better world a whole lot more possible. Here’s hoping!
Conversations airs every Thursday morning at 9 am CST on WDRT. We are currently observing, “stay safe at home”, so the shows are pre-recorded. You can learn more about Citizen Action of Wisconsin at their website https://www.citizenactionwi.org. You can reach Ben Wilson and his dog at ben.wilson@citizenactionwi.org.
