Like other Kos fans I am appauled at what has happened in Wisconsin. If an ex-pat Brit and yankophile feels like that, god only knows how my US mates, and particularly chums in Wisconsin, must be feeling. Betrayed? Sold Out? Kippered Up by your own side?
So what have you learned?
Maybe some of the clowns in the Democrat central office, and even the White House, are now thinking "Hmmmm....maybe we should have given our supporters in Wisconsin more support?" Maybe Obama is busy kicking his advisors in the head and explaining that he was right when he proposed jumping into the fray earlier.....Id hope that is what he is doing.
The lesson Im seeing from my side of the pool is that American Democracy is dead, buried, and rotting in the soil. Welcome to US Democracy V2.0 - Plutocracy.
I mean....how obvious does this have to get before the hard lessons start to sink in. Walker spent 88% of the total money spent on the election. 88%! The majority of that money came from rich out of state donors. His opponent, who spent the other 12%, raised most of his from in state donors. How obvious is it now the damage that Citizens United is doing to your already questionably money raddled political system?
How obvious?
Today I read that John McCain and 20 or so State Attourneys have had enough and submitted briefs calling for a judiciial revsit of the United decision. Hats off to cranky old John. He may be, most of the time, that grumbly old codger on the LayZBoy but like a stopped clock he tells the right time twice a day. I always thought he had decency and some integrity about him, even if he is a Republican (and I pronounce that word like a swear word).
And what do we hear from Obama and the White House? Crickets cheeping. A chance at bipartisanism again left hanging unsupported. Just who the hell does Obama employ as advisors? Rain Man and CoCo the Clown?
History lesson. Back in Republcan Rome a potential threat to their democracy emerged in the form of a moneyed interest who openly bought elections. Ceasar was Civil Aedile, and had his eye on the next elections. So, as part of his role he started lashing out stacks of cash on fancy gladitorial games and feasts for the mob. So the Senate saw this obvous moneyed corruption of the system and reacted. They placed strict restrictions on spending on games and feasts...the bread and circuses you hear about. It worked for a while....till Ceasar learned a new way to get the mob to elect him, and literally started to lie about his opponents all the time and smear them in sh*t.
History lesson 2: In the old UK electioneering was corrupt and moneyed as hell. We even had these things called rotten boroughs where vote buying was so open that they attracted the "rotten" epithet. Eventually, as our democracy developed, Parliament saw the threat that money represented to democracy, and strict laws were passed restricting election spending, restricting donation levels, and prohibiting undisclosed donations. When TV and radio came along more laws were passed governing politcal and election ads, ensuring strictly enforced equal time and access for all parties, and making sure that content was accurate and verfiable. Yes money and corruption still occasionally taints UK politics, (wave to the crowd Mr Murdoch), but the system is a lot less bought than in the US.
SO....how obvious does this unlimited spending and open corporate backhander fiasco have to get before, like the Romans and the Brits, someone over there in the US stands up and says "Enough! No More!"? Money is an anathema to democracy. End of argument.
You dont just need to dismantle Citizens United. That needs to be followed up by laws restricting spending and ensuring that equal ad time applies, and that ads cant use swiftboating any more.
On a personal note can I also ask that America stops trying to "export" democracy to the rest of the world till it actually has a functional one itself? Its the same reason I ask you stop saying "With Liberty And Justice For All" when it obviously doesnt mean what it says. Time to take off those rosy tinted specs, wake the hell up and stop dreaming that American Dream.
I despair for you my US chums. In a mere 250 years your politcians and judiciary have turned The Great Experiment of Adams, Mason and Jefferson into a moneyed whorehouse. In Wisconsin the final nail was hammered into the coffin of US Democracy, and its smirking evil twin Plutocracy threw the dirt on the coffin lid and walked away laughing.
My condolences to the berieved.