Republicans have always complained that Democratic Dane and Milwaukee counties unfairly swaying elections their way. But if that were true, has the power structure dramatically changed:
jsonline: The governor's victory ... Ozaukee (73%), Waukesha (72%) and Washington (70%) had the highest turnout rates in the state, measured by the percentage of voting-age adults who went to the polls. Walker’s vote margin in Waukesha was almost as big as Barrett’s in Dane – a terrible sign for a Democrat, since Dane is bigger.
If Republican voters wanted too, they could vote straight party "in droves" in the above mentioned counties from here to eternity, and control the states one party system.
This is about a one party, governmental change, that uses a word like "courage" to ignore the protests of the very citizens they're supposed to represent.
Wisconsin State Journal guest columnist Ken Mayer, a UW-Madison Professor of Political Science, summed up how oblivious he and so many others are, to the not so subtle underlying authoritarian political movement:
I'll respond by saying what parents have said to squabbling siblings for thousands of years: "Knock it off. Both of you. I don't care who started it!" To Democrats: You lost the recall because your guy got fewer votes than the other guy. It doesn't matter how much you loathed Walker...abuse of power...? And forget about all those other powerful, big monied outside groups and billionaires:
Stop blaming the American Legislative Exchange Council, or Super PACS, or the Koch Brothers, or Citizens United. Stop insisting that the only reason you lost was you were outspent 3-to-1, or 5-to-1, or 10-to-1, or that democracy has ended because billionaires can buy elections.
Silly us? Mayer's advice for Republicans:
To Republicans: Stop gloating ... you need to stop the absurd claims that the only reason Democrats can win elections is vote fraud. I saw a dozen blog posts about buses full of union folks coming from Michigan or Illinois to cast fraudulent votes. Not only is this preposterous, it is also enormously damaging to the legitimacy of the process (and it's particularly absurd because, well, you won; where are those claims now?).
Here it comes, that old moral equivalency BS:
To both Democrats and Republicans: Stop insisting the other side is stupid, evil, corrupt or wants people dying in the streets. Moreover, "Shut Up!" is not a very attractive rhetorical tactic.Mayer closes with a statement of utter denial. It's an "ends justify the means" nod of approval, as long as you win with class, and lose with grace. He is a professor right?
Screaming that there is no way you could lose except that you were outspent, or outfrauded, or outlied is silly because it's wrong and totally unhelpful. Harmful, in fact.
Show that you can win with class, and lose with grace. And do it before you know the results, OK? It's not like this is the last election we'll ever hold.
Losing the election (or having it rigged) doesn't change the fact that around 50% of us feel that Walker is a dishonest crook. It doesn't change our responsibility to
ReplyDeletewarn of dangers and speak out against injustice. And I'll start my post-recall election political speech with this observation, we in Wisconsin are lucky to have an expertly-managed and fully-funded state pension system. Fortunately for Wisconsin, the state retirement system is not broken and therefore doesn't need any fixing.
Speak the truth before Walker lies about our state pension system.
ReplyDeleteHere's another; our deer biologists in Wisconsin have done a good job of managing the herd and we're lucky to have public land available to hunt on. Speak the truth before non-biologist "Deer Czar" Kroll tells us the opposite.
It will be interesting to see if the media covers the ACTUAL job numbers on June 28th. I work at a Job Center and we all knew what BS those numbers were. Now on the liberal blogs it's starting to come out. Hopefully, the major media will have the balls to report on it.
ReplyDeleteMy prediction... Walker will blame it on the black guy, Reggie Newson and the racists in this state will take it as fact.
Great comments. I can't add anything more....
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