Re Wisconsin. What stage of grief are you in?

[CTyankee]

I've been through anger and denial but I am not yet really into acceptance. I guess depression is about my stage right now, altho I try not to dwell on it.

I know. I know. Turn off the TV and get the talking heads out of your daily consciousness...

Time for a little Brahms, I think...I can cry through the Requiem...that always helps!

[Skidmore]

1. Well, we don't have time for grief.

Literally. People freaking need to quit with heaving sighs and pointing fingers. Boots on the street to do the heavy lifting before the elections in the fall. Did you see the end of the New Rules segment of Real Time this week? Maher was 1000000000% on target. Get out there and get in their faces and stick to your guns (figuratively, of course).

[CTyankee]

3. Yeah we do have time for grief. It's normal and part of life.

I don't think it is the end of the world. But it does mean something and it does end some illusions we might have had.

We can and will get back after clearing our heads of our sorrow and we will think better as a result of it...

[Skidmore]

8. I disagree. It means that

we don't have time to wallow. This is exactly what the right expects and we don't think better afterward. We overthink and then get lost in the weeds. That is why there is no consensus and so much infighting.

[CTyankee]

18. I don't think I said "wallow." Accept your grief and then allow yourself to grieve and then

move on. We are humans.

[dems_rightnow]

2. If Brahms doesn't help...

Try Braum's. That's guaranteed.

http://www.braums.com/ice-cream/

[CTyankee]

4. Well, I COULD eat the Braum's while listening to Brahms!

[shcrane71]

5. I'm still at pissed off. nt

[dawg]

6. Anger.

Those people who voted for Waler deserve what they're going to get. Unfortunately, a lot of good people who knew better will be taken along for the ride as well.

[caesars things]

7. The stage where I know that it's a rigged game, everyone has partaken from the grape Kool-Aid

and are fast asleep and still defend electronic voting!

They're CONtrolling it by remote control and the sheeple just. don't. get. it.

[waddirum]

9. still in denial

nothing more

[BlueCaliDem]

10. I've gone through all the stages and have accepted there's nothing we can do now

other than accept we've been robbed. But that's gotten me all FIRED UP AND GET READY TO GO for November!

[Poiuyt]

11. I hang my hat on the fact that we took control of the State Senate

The new Senate Majority Leader sent out the following message after the election:

Last night was a tough night for us in Wisconsin. After being outspent 8 to 1 by Scott Walker and the billionaire Koch brothers, we lost the gubernatorial recall.

But what the national media is not telling you is: I am the new Democratic Senate Majority Leader after winning an important Senate recall election by just hundreds of votes.

Starting today, Senate Democrats will be a strong check on Scott Walker's power. If Walker tries to pass extreme policies that bust unions, hurt women, or attack middle-class families, we will have one word for him: No. We will demand laws that benefit the middle class and start repairing our state.

I don't think that walker will be able to ramrod his fascist agenda through quite so easily.

[former9thward]

14. Unfortunately it was an empty win.

The legislature is not in session and is not going to be in session until after the November elections where more senate seats are up. So control of the senate will depend on who wins in November.

[dragonlady]

37. Walker could have called a special session

to push through the second round of his dream legislation (right-to-work, amendment to end recalls, sell-off of state property, and so on). This gives us some breathing room.

[Scuba]

41. Exactly. We have unseated THREE Republican State Senators in the last 10 months....

... giving us control of the Senate. This is a Big F'ing Deal.

[former9thward]

42. Why wouldn't he have called it before the recalls?

There was nothing stopping him.

[dragonlady]

43. What was stopping him?

He needed to make nice for a while and lull people into giving him the rest of his term. Why did he announce a large program to help the inner city of Milwaukee during the campaign? To show that he is a governor who cares about all his constituents. I will be surprised if that comes to fruition now that he has won.

[CTyankee]

45. that would run afoul of his anti government message when he could go for the easier

clean win, which he did and which was successful...

look for this tactic to be used elsewhere...just wait and you'll see..this is now in their playbook...

[Worried senior]

12. I'm pretty sure the gop is going

to request a re-count for the senate seat we took and if they can pull some dirty tricks I'm sure they will.

Walker is having a brat fest Tues, I guess to try to mend fences, he's 1-1/2 years too late, hope no dems go.

[longship]

13. Thank you for the Brahms. I love that work!

Ein Deutsches Requiem (sp?). It is a more or less secular work based on the sacred text. Every time I listen to it I am inspired by good thoughts. It is at one moment profound and other moments light as a feather. Even without a recording I can hear it in my head.

Thank you for that allusion, my friend. Even though I don't see WI as the end of the world, it was a setback. You've given me even more hope.

[CTyankee]

19. Oh, thank you! I go to the Requiem for so much!

The Requiem has helped me thru some bad times. I think it actually helps to cry and the Requiem will do that! Art always saves you...

Here, for you:

"How Lovely is thy Dwelling Place."

[agent46]

15. No grief here

I privately predicted the result to myself just to see if I was paranoid or if i really did have a grasp of what's happening in this country. The only surprise was how quickly it went down without a single objection from anyone.

I think WI was a dry run for November. I am not optimistic at this point but I've come to terms with the idea that democracy is dead and we are now a fascist state with mock elections.

[CTyankee]

27. This is my darkest fear. I don't want to assign too much importance to one loss but I

really had high hopes that the good people of WI would rise up against this monster Walker. I see how badly misinformed I was.

I don't want to see this translate into a national political catastrophe for the Dems in November. It is my biggest fear. I am now worried also about Elizabeth Warren in MA. I see the same forces at work against her.

I hope we are not heading for a massive rejection by the American voters of any sort of progressive form of government. I fear for American democracy...

[KamaAina]

16. RAGE

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. I've accepted it, my dear CTyankee.

We cannot change what happened, so there's no sense in anything but acceptance.

We need to learn whatever lessons there are to be learned, and then get on with it.

Do what you need to do to take care of yourself, and then move on.

[CTyankee]

21. thanks, Peggy. I had to go thru stages but you are correct. We do what we must...

And we DO have to take care of ourselves in order to do what we must...right?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

23. Yes, we DO! I agree completely...n/t

[kentuck]

28. Me too, Peggy...

Regardless of why it happened, it happened. That is the reality we must accept at present. We should continue to try and understand why it happened? Was it just the money? Was it their message? Was it the timing? Were the people just tired of it all? I am accepting of the results but I am not willing to accept that the people want the agenda of Walker and the right wing. I am not certain they knew what they were voting for. They were voting for the Republican's description of what was happening which I do not believe was truly happening as they said. To a large degree, I do believe they were hoodwinked. Only time will tell.

[CTyankee]

29. How can we overcome people's belief that something so wrong is right?

After all this time and all these betrayals, people STILL believe these bastards?

Incredible...

[kentuck]

33. Most are loyal to the conservative label...

Much moreso than the liberal label. It is incredible.

[CTyankee]

34. I guess I should be asking why are they loyal to a philosophy that repeatedly FAILS them?

The curse of the liberal is that we can't understand that...

[kentuck]

39. In my opinion, it is years and years of being propagandized...

..of the evil nature of "liberalism" - they even write books on the subject - and the proselytizing by people like Rush Limbaugh, that has convinced these folks that conservatism is invincible. Even as it continues to fail at everything, their followers look to always place the blame elsewhere, as they are doing now with Barack Obama and the "socialists" that are trying to take over our government.

[craigmatic]

20. I'm not because I know that long term this right wing slant the country has been on will end.

[CTyankee]

22. I understand that view. My problem with it is: will it be too late?

It is a bad feeling to have...

[craigmatic]

32. They can't ever change things so much that we won't be able to change them back.

I like to take the long view because history moves in cycles.

[lastlib]

24. I will never accept it, but...

...I know that if we don't move on to the next battle, and fight it with all our strength, we will lose it too--and the next, and the next, and....

[CTyankee]

25. I know. This is "pause" and "reset" in my mind....

But I think "acceptance" has to be part of this because if we don't accept in the sense of understand why it happened, we will keep making the same mistakes in judgment. We had so much hope in Feb. of 2011 when the good people of WI occupied the capitol in Madison. We thought that surely that was a turning point in our long national nightmare. And we were all so hopeful that "people power" in door knocking and personal contact would pay off in this contest. That it didn't happen, and in such a bad way with such bad numbers for our side, really was depressing. We didn't make the case. And I'm sad, and mad. This will take a little time to sort out in our minds and change strategy: that is clear to me.

[cherokeeprogressive]

26. Acceptance.

I think I reached that stage late Tuesday night.

[Initech]

30. Anger - I'll never accept that he won.

[CTyankee]

31. Don't you have to in order to move forward?

It's good to not accept what is unacceptable, but the voters decided, not you or me. So we have to reconsider what went wrong for us. Did we miscalculate? Was it just lousy strategy?

there's a lot of shudda, coulda, woulda going on right now...

[Initech]

36. Scott Walker is the best governor money can buy.

That election may have been won - but it's proof that elections can be bought.

[kentuck]

40. The people decide in a democracy...

You are correct. We accept the results of the people. But still, we must ask "why", in order to move forward. Their way worked and our way did not work. Their money and message beat our people. This is best article on the subject that I have read thus far: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/06/08/how-walker-really-won-wisconsin/

[Phhhtttt]

35. I had a panic attack the next day.NT

[Zorra]

38. I'm making plans to move out of the country

again if Romney is elected.

That's because of what Citizens's United did to Wisconsin, and I'm afraid it will do the same thing nationally, so I'm "getting my affairs in order", just in case.

[libtodeath]

44. I will never accept what I know deep down was stolen