You ain't seen nothing yet.

[kentuck]

Wisconsin: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...?

Most of the people of Wisconsin understand that they were tricked by the "moderate" talk of Scott Walker in 2010. He then jumped off the deep right end. His true agenda showed its ugly face and demeanor.

Now, the people have a second chance to approve or disapprove of Mr Scott Walker. Next Tuesday, they have a chance to correct their mistake. If they are unsuccessful, we will get to see the agenda of Walker and the right-wing GOP in all its anti-government glory.

We have only seen the tip of the iceberg in regards to the right-wing agenda. Wisconsin is a "test run" but it is a test run we cannot afford to ignore. If we fail the test, the results will not only be bad for Wisconsin but bad for the entire nation. The right-wing will be emboldened in such a way as we have never seen...

[longship]

1. "The right-wing will be emboldened in such a way as we have never seen."

Agreed!

If you want a very scary thought, imagine what they will do if they win in November! I predict that they'll go even more batshit crazy. We have not seen the worst by a long shot.

That is why we have to win in WI, and we have to win BIG in November. A close election in November will merely preserve today's unacceptable situation. Our only long term hope is to utterly defang this right wing monster.

[kentuck]

2. The monster is knocking on the door..

We shouldn't invite him in for lunch.

[WingDinger]

18. I'm not so sure a win by Scotty wouldnt work for us.

I am deathly afraid that milquetoast Romney will try out-Obama-ing Obama. So far, his being hated by his own, has stopped him from the etch a sketch reboot. he, and his are still birthing, and commie-fascism-ing. If Scott Walker stays, he will be a symbol of all that is haughty, arrogant and insular about the Rethugs. They will double down on their hate speech campaigns. I want to hear more about how we should throw acid in the faces of Dem female congresspersons. I want to hear more about how every group that doesnt vote Rethug is just an idiot that is spoonfed by Obama, when they really need to be told they are losers. And left to rot, for their own good.

I DONT want Romney to look anything like a human. No empathy. No caring about any but the rich, ERR, UM job creators. I want praise of citizens united, and how it has elevated their campaigns to caviar status. How the decision has left Obama with only small supporters, and how the business community is engaged in a capital strike, cuz they intend on Romneys anything goes dereg, to fleece us the rest of the way. I want to hear the Libertarians clammor for privatized municipal water. I want to hear how good americans will all go John Galt on Obama, if he steals the election. I wnat to hear how it is none of our damn business that Willard has his LOOT in the Caymans. I wnat to hear how if business doesnt see fit to invest in anything, it shouldnt be done.


Long live hubris.

[longship]

19. You have some points there

But I live in Western MI, and I don't want a Walker victory to happen to my WI next door neighbors.

[Plucketeer]

20. You're willing to bet

that civil outrage can overcome a deluge of money? Good luck with that! We're down to a last gasp attempt and making ballots work for us or taking to the streets - period.

[WingDinger]

21. I see it as our only hope.

Barring civil outrage, WE ARE OWNED by the monied. And we are taking to the streets. Them asserting brazen control of us, is our last chance. Tepid discomfort hasnt got anyone off their asses in thirty years.

[KharmaTrain]

3. They'll Get What They Deserve...

I've been to Wisconsin several times over the past 18 months...helped circulate petitions and have donated to various candidates. After all that's happened if a majority of Wisconsin voters choose to retain Walker they get what they deserve. This is the government they want and I expect that Walker will use a win as a mandate (especially if the rushpublicans retain control of the state houses) to ram through even more regressive legislation.

It surely will embolden other rushpublicans for a very big reason...it will prove that the unions are no longer a political power. This election is more about them than it is about anyone else. It's collective bargaining that's under attack and if Walker is succesful in turning Wisconsin into a "right to work" state others will follow.

Sadly I've seen the Democratic party and the union and "progressive" movements lose their way over recent years. While I hope that the polls are wrong or that there'll be some last minute surge/awakening, I'm seeing and hearing what will be a very painful loss next week and an opportunity lost. Then I expect the blame game that will further demoralize. I sure hope I'm proven wrong...

[LynneSin]

5. It's not the voters who vote for Walker. It's those who think this vote isn't that important

and choose not the vote.

People who vote for Walker are teabagging creeps who thrive on this time of politics even if it means their jobs & health could be impacted. Those were things they never cared about anyways.

Those who can't be bothered to vote - THEY get what they deserve because they couldn't take 20 minutes out of their day to change their state for the better. That's what the GOP is hoping for with this election.

[KharmaTrain]

8. Exactly...

I canvassed in the northern Milwaukee suburbs (Shorewood, Mequon) and ran into a lot of people who said they were fooled by Walker and a large number who signed were those who admitted they didn't bother to vote. Thus you would hope they'd know better now. Over 1,000,000 Wisconsites put their names on the recall petition...one would hope they'd follow through and show up at the polls.

An old saying about politics is "the hardest part is showing up"...and this looks like another example. Wish I could feel more positive but I've been down this frustrating road one time too many.

Cheers...

[cyberpj]

13. Add to those the votes that won't count or perhaps even be switched due to election fraud, that's

what scares me. They've done it before and they'll do it again - using machines, using collusion... however they can, whatever the win requires.

I believe we're about to see a great amount of that, Nationwide, and all the way up to the Presidency this year.

[kmartinelli]

17. they are met with little resistance

So true. Been going on nationwide for many years now. The republicans have their devious ways to steal elections and it seems there is little offense against them.

[LynneSin]

4. We need some music for viewing your thread.....

[HereSince1628]

6. June 5th is an Anniversary of D-Day

Wisconsin is but one landscape in a struggle of continental scale. We have designated Tuesday for our contest, and we are prepared.

Just as D-Day didn't end WWII, you shouldn't think that what is done here on June 5th 2012 will end the struggle against selfish tyranny of the monied oligarchs.

That just cannot be the end, because the struggle for justice and dignity for people can never be finished.

Whatever the outcome of June 5th in Wisconsin, and I have best expectations, don't dream that Wisconsin is a place where our struggle will spare you.

The oppressors will surely come to you and your family. If not this June then in another month of this or another year.

And when it does, remember Wisconsin and know what we know:

The rights of ordinary people are not guaranteed, they are but vouchsafed by the willingness of the people to struggle for them.

[kentuck]

7. Well said.

I agree.

[ewagner]

14. Thank you

I get tears in my eyes every time I see you folks down in Madison...wish I could be with you..

[Scuba]

15. Actually D-Day is June 6th, the date the results will be in showing Scooter lost.

[zbdent]

9. Ohio's Kasich denigrated the police LONG BEFORE he announced he was running for Governor

as a Republican ... yet the "liberally-biased media" and the Repugniconvicts turned a blind eye to this, and let him get elected.

As soon as he was in, he started attacking the working people in Ohio, and shut down the high-speed rail project ... while demanding that the money still be sent to him to do as HE pleased ... can you say "bridge to nowhere"?

[ProfessionalLeftist]

10. I think Wisconsin and Michigan...

...are test runs.

[HereSince1628]

11. And Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Missouri and, well, you get the picture.

At some point curiosity in basic arithmetic must show that these add up to much more than a test case.

IMO, thinking each state is a lone case is much like not noticing a forest because you can't see past all the trees.

[ewagner]

12. I fear for Wisconsin

if this SOB survives the recall. The problem (as written on DU many times) is that Walker's "Divide and Conquer" strategy has worked...

Teachers in Wisconsin are virtually hated because Walker villanized them so badly in an effort to destroy the base of the Democratic Party.

Firefighters (with the exception of the group Mitchell represents) back Walker because he exempted them from his draconian reforms.

Americans for Prosperity* have Joe Lunchbucket convinced that "Liberals" are the problem that cost them their jobs and the only way to get the jobs back is to grovel at the feet of our Corporate Overlords.

The dumbing down of America is almost complete. People are seduced by patriotic-sounding words and other phrases they don't understand and vote against not only their best interests but also the best interests of society.

I have no idea what's going to happen next Tuesday. I've given money and support and I'll vote but God Help Us if that SOB wins...

*Prosperity for the 1%

[NNN0LHI]

16. Afraid that "test run", came about 30 years ago kentuck

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/13/us/replacement-workers-management-s-big-gun.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Replacement Workers: Management's Big Gun

By PETER T. KILBORN, Special to The New York Times

Published: March 13, 1990

<snip>One reason that companies now think that goal is possible is the lesson they drew from the illegal strike of 11,500 Federal air traffic controllers in August 1981, seven months into Ronald Reagan's first term as President. After the controllers defied a back-to-work order, Mr. Reagan dismissed them, filled their ranks with permanent replacements, and the union collapsed.

'A Signal to Other Employers'

The Government's success in keeping the air traffic system working impressed many unionized companies.''Reagan made it respectable to bust unions,'' Mr. Baptiste said.

Gary Burtless, a labor economist at the Brookings Institution, said Mr. Reagan emboldened management to risk the strain to its business of taking on less experienced workers. ''The fact that the President was able to keep the air traffic system going indicated that there was a lot more scope for replacing workers than people imagined,'' Mr. Burtless said. ''If you can replace air traffic controllers you can certainly replace bus drivers.''

The permanent replacements, often recruited from the ranks of the unemployed or from low-paid employees of other businesses, are a variation on the temporary substitutes vilified by trade unionists as ''scabs'' or ''strikebreakers'' but nevertheless regarded as a part of management's legitimate arsenal. Temporary replacements leave at the end of a strike, but permanent replacements are assured the strikers' jobs. After a strike, the law allows strikers first claim on their old jobs, but only if replacements vacate them.

----------------------------------------------------

Look at who Walker is trying to emulate:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/opinion/reagan-vs-patco-the-strike-that-busted-unions.html

<snip>In the spring, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin invoked Reagan’s handling of Patco as he prepared to “change history” by stripping public employees of collective bargaining rights in a party-line vote. “I’m not negotiating,” Mr. Walker said. By then the world had seemingly forgotten that unlike Mr. Walker, Reagan had not challenged public employees’ right to bargain — only their right to strike.

-----------------------------------------------------------

And I didn't figure this stuff out just by reading either. This was real life for millions of people for a damn long time. Decades actually. The first "concession" contract where I worked at was in 1982. That is when my austerity program began. This has been a long time coming kentuck. This didn't begin in 2010. This has been a long drawn out spiral. Some people think it just started recently but that is not true. Lot of people are just now beginning to be affected badly by these anti-union policies so naturally they think this is a recent thing. Its not though.

Don