i was a member of the michigan education association for 16 years. and as was said by salim, i'm free at last. it's been a month -- actually, it's been a year ago this month. my story is such. in michigan, one of the bluest states, we have had a roll back of the power of the unions. the private sector have had a rollback because of market forces through competition, overpriced labor and such, things have happened. michigan was doing very, very well. then, of course, things happened. since that time, the michigan education association power has receded or been rolled back a little bit. as was mentioned, our union also collected dues and used them for political purposes. but several years ago our legislature and governor pushed through a law and were able to take the political action committee dues and make them an opt in. so we are no longer forced to pay those. that was cut from our association fees. if you wanted to participate you could. choice reared its head. then we had about two years ago the legislature passed a law that said you as a union mem