The ballot box just isn't working for the 99%. 12 years of electoral politics have done nothing to stop the alarming erosion of the very foundations of our nation. Time and again our choices are narrowed by big money and back room deals. Time and again the least deserving claim victory.
Scott Walker's recent triumph in Wisconsin is less about the failure of the Madison uprising/ progressive movement and more about the ability of the 1% to dominate the political process and sell unverified elections.
Fight On by Carol Davidek-Waller
Fight On by Carol Davidek-Waller
Governor Scott Walker hit a nerve when he emptied the state treasury into the pockets of his friends and handed the tab to hard working state employees .
Unlike many other states, Wisconsin had no budget deficit pre Walker. Walker's 'Budget Repair Bill" was only needed to fix the budget he broke. Buried in its pages was a nasty poison pill in that stripped state workers of their constitutional rights to organize and collective bargaining.
The response was electric and the Madison Revolt was born. In spite of the freezing weather, crowds grew to 100,000 or more and the movement sustained itself for months All across the nation people rallied in support. Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for Walker, a clever journalist exposed him as the fawning servant of corporate bad actor Charles Koch.
The Madison rebellion like it's cousin Occupy was 'come-one- come-all'.
Was channeling the broad based energy of such a movement into the narrow confines of a recall election the next logical step or their first big mistake?
Something Doesn't Quite Add Up
Less than an hour after the polls closed on June 4th, the mainstream media sounded the trumpets for Walker victory. They were quick to credit Walker's lavish spending ( upward of 10-1 : mostly from out of state billionaires ) and even more eager to pronounce the Wisconsin rebellion DOA.
The the same media that lied us into war, soothed our consciences as we became a nation of torturers and assassins, called Florida for Bush before time and sold us the loser was now telling us that the man that looked like public enemy number one had just been crowned king, again. What proof do we have that they are telling us the truth about this or any election? The fact is, very little.
Exit polls were showing Walker and Barrett neck and neck right up to closing time. Within an hour, Walker miraculously, overtook Barrett by a healthy and strangely familiar 7%, ( nearly the same margin that put Walker in office pre revolt). Absentee ballots (12%of the vote) had not even been counted.
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