Nor is there much that can be done by the state that would be relevant to American military and other responses to the outrages. But there is work to do and legislators should strive to do it in rational and businesslike fashion. First they must resist the temptation to grandstand or score some sort of publicity points at the expense of those who have suffered. There will be the obligatory and appropriate legislative resolutions expressing the sentiments Wisconsin shares with the rest of the country. Politicians being politicians, many surely will experience irresistible urges to get up and talk.
Speeches are fine.
A formal declaration of sorrow, sympathy, anger, faith and patriotism is in order. But then there is regular business to be done. The trick is to do what needs to be done without either overreacting or underestimating. Perhaps the most pressing business is to find those things state government can do to soften the blows that the national and state economy are taking, in part as a direct result of the terrorist attacks and in part because the economy was weak to begin with. Republicans already are talking characteristically of ways to stimulate business, to help keep it going and to make it easier to make a buck, meet a payroll and maybe even hire a few workers who lose jobs elsewhere.