From the land of Fighting Bob La Follette…
Tuesday, August 9th is a very special election day in Wisconsin. Today just might be the day that progressive populist grassroots action will stem the tide of the GOP’s pro-corporate, anti-union, neo-fascist agenda.
If Wisconsin voters can recall three Republican State Senators – despite a massive 40 million dollar flood of anonymous corporate cash spent on behalf of GOP incumbents – the balance of power in the Wisconsin Legislature will shift to the left, and frustrated working class voters in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and elsewhere will know that they, too, can retake control of their political destiny.
Triggered by popular resistance to GOP-Tea Party Governor Scott Walker’s anti-union overreach, today’s vote in Wisconsin marks the nation’s largest ever recall election. A string of Democratic victories in six state senate districts, many of which have historically voted Republican, would send shock waves throughout the Midwest – and reverberate in the nation’s capitol.
It’s a referendum on Scott Walker’s conservative Tea-Party policies. And the conservative establishment is not giving up without a fight. The right wingers have played dirty tricks like passing voter ID laws to disenfranchise minorities and the elderly and mailing out fraudulent ballot information to Democratic voters – and they’ve spent $40 million dollars to support GOP incumbents and bash their Democratic challengers.
How much money is that? It’s twice as much as the Wisconsin record of $20 million set in the 2008 elections, spent on campaigns for half the state Senate and all the Assembly members.
As I write this, the results are too close to call. Nothing can be taken for granted. Wisconsin Democrats and working class citizens must get out and vote.
The whole nation is watching.
On, Wisconsin!
Here’s a little song to vote by, written and performed by Ripon, Wisconsin native, Steve Rashid.
Paul's Voyage of Discovery & Etc. 