Walker Wins Wisconsin, What Does It Mean

Scott Walker won his recall contest last night in Wisconsin and it really was not close. I heard a commentator say on television that if you try to kill the king you better succeed or you are worse off than before and that is certainly the case for the Democrats in Wisconsin.

Looking for a big picture takeaway from this election is more difficult. Does this mean that Wisconsin has become a red leaning state, it appears as if it might. Does it mean that the union movement does not have enough power to carry the day in a traditionally union state. It certainly looks so.

For me there are several things to be said about this race. First and foremost I believe that we must accept that the Supreme Court's ruling on Citizens United has changed elections in this country. No matter what side of the aisle you sit on politically you need to ask yourself if the fact that single individuals or corporations can give unlimited contributions to a candidate or a cause is a good thing. We need to ask ourselves what do we think the billionaires who backed Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich almost exclusively this spring think they are getting for their contributions. Or perhaps my sensible Republican friends need to ask themselves how they would feel if George Soros or Ted Turner spent 20 million dollars on a ballot issue in their state.

Money changes everything. Only a few people who have a sincere interest in buying public officials can think this is a good thing.

Democrats however need to face facts. This is the law of the land. They are in the unfortunate position of not being able to make inroads to change the law until they regain power in the Washington and the law itself makes it very hard for them to regain power. For those who say that unions are now unlimited in what they can spend they do need to realize that while this is true, and it is , it also looks past the point that unions have no measure of power equal to the Koch Brothers or the other right wing boogeymen spending hundreds of millions.

So for Democrats they need to raise money. It is a hard position. Rich Democrats will gain financially from Republican victories, they are in effect being asked to bankroll to a large extent measures and ballot initiaves which will cost them money. It is one thing to understand the self interest of the Republican backers, it is quite another to find a significant amount of Democrats to work hard to lose money.

That is the first challenge. The second and I have written about this before, is the change in American values. Republicans point to Democratic tactics of class warfare but what the Republicans have done is nothing short of brilliant. They have made the middle class of America despise the poor and idolize the rich. This is totally reverse to what it has been until the last 40 years. Prior to that time the poor wanted to be in the middle class, the middle class wanted to help them get there, and they all thought that the wealthy should be made to help them, usually in the form of progressive taxation.

I think it has to do with the love affair America has created with wealth and materialism. In doing so we all dream more of our 1 in a 1000 chance to be a millionaire rather than finding contentment with our good middle class life and wishing to see others join us. In short we find that a good amount of middle class people believe that it is better to believe in lower taxes for the wealthy because they aspire to be that person, even if the chances of them becoming a millionare are small.

It is disturbing at best. And yet my son as we talk about politics does not understand why Republicans and rich folks get so upset about paying four percent more in taxes, the net effect of the Bush tax cuts being reversed for most. I reminded him however that he himself says that the most important thing to him about his career choice has been the chance to make a great deal of money and have a big house. I advised him that were he successful in that plan that he might in twenty years look back at his teenage self as being naive and idealistic. It is a fact that as people gain in life they become more conservative. It as if part of being successful is wanting to hold onto it against usurpers. I guess, realistically, that is human nature as well. Lincoln spoke of our better angels in dealing with the South, perhaps we need to find those in dealing with each other.

In terms of what Walker's victory means. It means what we already knew is true still and perhaps more so.

1. The Union movement in America, if not dead, is on life support.

2. Elections can be bought, if not outright, through unlimited and anonymous contributions. This seems Ok to you if your side is the one spending. Before Democrats get too holier than thou however they should keep in mind that in Maine the initial disclosures of fundraising for the Gay Marriage referendum has the supporters of Gay Marriage collecting monies at a clip of at least 100 times that of those who wish to keep the ban.

3. It means that when Dems pick a battle they need to do a better job. Why would Wisconsin Dems set up a battle that was one that could change the course of events and have no arrangement to field a better candidate. Tom Barrett is I am sure a good man but a rematch two years later was just Dems saying "I told you so." No one wants to hear that. Where was Herb Kohl the longtime Senator or better yet liberal champion Russ Feingold. One has to ask them why they refused to run but one really has to question the long term planning that went into this.

4. The midwest is no longer solidly union and therefore no longer solidly Democratic. This does not bode well for Obama in the fall.

5. Pundits say the fall will be different because Obama's base will be energized. If a vote to remove an anti union Governor in the state of Wisconsin cannot energize the base enough to earn a victory what can this President do to do so. This President who kept us in Afghanistan, failed to deal with Guantanamo, did not even attempt a public option in his health care bill, who watered down his Bank reform bill and on and on it goes. This President who, despite being hated by the right, has had policies more in line with George Bush,his predecessor, than with his Senate Democrats. Without a sleight of hand worthy of David Copperfield there is nothing this President can do to energize his base.


6. Exit polls show that 17 percent of union households voted for Walker. What this means is that sometimes no matter what you just cannot fathom why people vote the way they do. I do not want to be too hyperbolic and certainly do not want to offend but union members voting for Walker is akin to Black folks voting for David Duke. It just does not make sense.

Finally I have to accept that I am in the minority. I do not how that is. It seems so simplistic to me that unions help the average person and that rich folks should pay a progressive income tax. It seems clear to me that cuts to education at the same time as tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy do not make any sense. In the end though I have to accept that I am in the minority.

I do not understand it. I am pigheaded enough to still believe I am right. I am not foolish enough, however, to think that I am in the majority any longer. That makes me very sad.