It's a blow to the Democratic Party and to the American Left. While, I still believe President Obama will win in November, even if he does (and possibly with his assistance) the Rise of the Plutocracy and the Dominance of the Neo-Feudalist State is not going to be stopped.
Unions were already one foot in the grave, when Scott Walker at the behest of his Lords & Masters, the Koch Brothers, decided to "Divide & Conquer" and kill them in Wisconsin. The Plutocracy has so much power and influence that one party (the Republicans are completely servile and worship the Rich) and a majority of the other (the Democratic Party) are under their sway as well, it will take a reborn Labor Movement to undue the damage of the last 30 years.
Right-Wingers are correct to be mad about the Government; It doesn't represent them. The Government represents the Richest 1% (or 1 in 100 Americans) and increasingly just the Richest 0.1% or 1 in 1000 of Us.
But, while millions of Americans continue to suffer from the Republican Recession, the 1% of this Nation have increased their share of Wealth, rebounded and are doing better than they were before The Republicans led by George W. Bush and his Plutocratic Owners crashed the economy.
While we Liberals and Unions have been working to lift up Our Fellow Americans, conservatives have been convinced that it is by destroying collective bargaining rights, crushing Unions and tearing down their fellow Americans which shall bring about a smaller, more representative Government.
But, what Conservatives seem to fail to understand is the 1%, the Plutocracy only speaks the words of Small Government, Free Market and Capitalism. Their actions show what they really want is a Neo-Feudalist State, in which the Government ruthlessly defends their vast wealth and crushes any real or imagined threats by the 99% under the Iron Heel.
As I wrote on New Year's Eve 2012, The 1% Hate Uncertainty,
The 1% of this Nation hate uncertain elements. What they would rather have is the certainty of the economic model they are confident in; Neo-Feudalism, in which their profits are privatized and protected by Government and their losses are socialized and paid for by the 99%.So, the question is what lesson shall we all take from Scott Walker and Wisconsin? Are we now locked into a path leading us down to Corporate Bondage and Wage Slavery? Or will we rise in Solidarity and craft a truly Democratic Party to represent Us and Our Prosperity?
The 1% don't need you. But, what they do need every so often is to eliminate Uncertainty. And that is why the filthy 1% who deliberately caused the economic collapse and the housing bubble are now trying to convince enough people that it was caused by social programs for the poor and middle class.
Because they need to get their Wholly Bought and Paid for Republican Party and Pro-Business Democrats elected to eliminate Uncertainty so that they may turn all of America into A Galt's Gulch. But while, they live as Lords, the 99% will live as serfs and wage slaves mining their gold, picking their arugula and quietly dying off when their working years are over.
Because that is Certainty the 1% are Striving towards; Rand's Ultimate Vision for the 99%, for the Common Man, that he toil unobtrusively underneath the feet of the 1% Colossuses and have the courtesy to die quickly and quietly.
Related:
The Walker Recall: Lessons for Progressives by Robert Borosage [OurFuture.org]
A Wake Up Call for the Dems, Labor and the Left by Greg Sargent [Washington Post: The Plum Line]