Progressives are trying to mine something good out of the Scott Walker victory in the Wisconsin recall election, but this is almost impossible to do.
The bottom line is that Scott Walker spent 88% of the Wisconsin campaign money to get 53% of the vote. This number assumes $34.5 million ($30.5 for Walker and $4 for Barrett) but that amount doesn’t even include spending by out-of-state billionaires, like the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, Joe Rickets, the National Chamber of Commerce, and the NRA – all of which probably doubled Walker’s $30.5M. Clearly big money was the winner on Tuesday and continues to be the winner. The vast majority of the voters are the losers, and many of them still don’t know it.
Consider the lessons learned from this election. If a man like Scott Walker can get 53% of the vote, a poor campaigner, a thinly-masked puppet of the rich, whose state is ranked last in the nation in job creation, who busted public unions, who revealed his puppetry before a Koch brother pretender, stated his “divide and conquer” intentions publically to a billionaire campaign contributor, and regularly huddles with rich supporters — and this is based on 8 to 1 spending, think what this spending differential template will mean in future elections with just average Republican candidates.
Think of the torture all Badger citizens have undergone in the last few months. On top of the ludicrous Republican campaign for President, spending bought a bombardment of TV air time with nauseating attack ads, this since November of last year for the Walker group. It brought suppression of voting by Democrats, door bells constantly sounding with union reps exhorting you to vote. It brought Walker propaganda and lies in TV pitches and news spots. It brought robo calls until you wanted to smash your phone against the wall, one saying “If you signed the recall petition, you don’t have to vote.”
With all this effort on the Democratic side and money on the Republican side, they still get the lying, smiling face of Scott Walker for maybe 3 or more years, the plutocratic hand-puppet. It’s almost like the torture wasn’t worth it.
Now lest bitterness fill your empty vessel, we must concede that Tom Barrett was a weak candidate with too little imagination, less-than-average speaking skills, no definitively-stated program for all middle-class Badgers, and too little passion. In fact, Ed Schultz on MSNBC had more passion than most Wisconsin voters, certainly more than Tom Barrett. In the end, what with all the disgusting slaps and slurring, it seems a zero-sum game. The pool is heavily poisoned.
But we must be forced to say that democracy is on the ropes for several reasons. Most Americans will not take the time and energy to become well enough informed to vote for the candidate who will pursue their interests, and the corporate media has no interest in keeping citizens informed. Secondly, only a slight majority of voters are motivated enough to even go to the polls to vote. Thirdly, our social and economic system has been so gamed by rich interests that most of us lack the knowledge, the will, the resources (time, money, and energy), and the stamina to even fend for our political and economic interests. Maintaining what we have is our goal. Fourth, the plutocratically-backed Republicans have so tarnished the image of good government that we seem to lack the desire, and certainly the hope, to see such a flawed system put back together.
Perhaps, it is akin to playing on a poor team in professional sports with the other side basking in wealth and power. If as players we draw better than subsistence pay for putting in little effort, even dropping out with bogus injuries, why try to buck the system that brought the money and power to the opposition.
As a so-called democracy we can’t even get through luxury taxes like the NBA has, something that professional sports is apt to do just to equalize power and maintain fan interest. One of the no-new-taxes props, a non-elected, but appointed by the rich, commissioner of the government league is Grover Norquist. He seems to have no counterpart in professional sports. Certainly he would kill the league (republic) to get his way. He doesn’t have to worry about clientele. The people are soured by the game and the game doesn’t need our revenue. The rich will support both teams, the Republicans and the Democrats. Neither actually needs the people.
If you still hear this crap about government representing the people, just remember, it is just a game, and, boy, have we been gamed?
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