Hooray for the Red, Red and Red!

I woke up this morning dreading turning on the radio for fear of what the news from Wisconsin would be.  My iPhone helpfully dinged me last night with a NYT update indicating that Walker was ahead in the exit polls, so I was forewarned.  Nevertheless, it comes as a shock that such an unpopular governor could prevail in a recall election that was, at base, not about one evil bastard politician, but about whether we will in the end be a country where ordinary, unrich people have a say or...not.  Make no mistake: Walker  won not because the people of Wisconsin wholeheartedly love him or his policies; he won because the fascists dumped a mountain of money into the race.  The hapless Dems were outspent 30-1, and some two-thirds of that money came from out of state.


When Walker stripped state workers of their unions (yes, they're still breathing, but life support has been yanked and it's just a matter of time), it was part of a long-term plan to ensure Republican dominance in Wisconsin and, indeed, beyond (hence the avalanche of outside dough).  Without the public employee unions, the Dems have no ground game -- it was unions who pounded the pavement and brought folks to the polls.  The Dems will also see their already anemic coffers all but dry up, as unions, again, were their mainstay.  Nobody else -- individuals or groups -- is able to give money in the seven- or eight-digit range to the left.  The right, thanks to 'Citizens United' (how that title rankles!), have an endless supply of cash as long as there are corporations and unimaginably wealthy oligarchs willing to play politics with their bottomless bags of money .


So, the Tea Party/Republican victory in the Wisconsin recall all but ensures that it will become a bastion of the red-meat right for the foreseeable future.  We are all next.


Speaking of which, one of the things I shall do at school this morning is to vote in our own election for the Chicago Teachers Union strike authorization ahead of this summer's round of negotiations over our contract.  Here again, we are playing against a stacked deck since the Illinois General Assembly (Democratic-dominated) and Governor Quinn (D) decided that the CTU -- alone of all unions in the state -- is now required to muster a 75% majority in the case of a strike vote.  If we don't meet that ridiculous super-majority threshold, you can kiss any meaningful negotiations goodbye.


Happy D-Day everybody!