The Wisconsin political landscape has been fascinating to watch but there is an aspect of the debate that has been ignored for the most part. On MSNBC State Senator Spencer Cobb was asked what will be done next for the Democrats in the state. He gave the talking point answers about going to the courts and using the recall to try and correct what he and many feel has been a power grab by the Republicans.

This is all well and good, but what about the election? It was brought to his attention that the Democrats didn’t seem to serious in the last election and the Senator laughed off such allegations. The fact is many people were looking towards the Obama Administration to energize them into voting. They saw the compromises and Washington deal making as more of the same. While Republicans were fueled by fear or hatred of the President Democrats and independents across the country had no fire in the belly to rise up and vote against Republicans.

It seems with every election cycle the collective memories of the Independent and Democrat voters are erased. In 2008 there claimed to be tired of the Bush Administration, yet in 2010 they stayed away from the voting booth and allowed Republicans to gain control of the House as well as many state legislatures. I remember during the election a good number of progressive pundits, while acknowledging the gains of Republicans, were very proud to crow that the predicted landslide never happened. Maybe it was because they were looking at things from Washington glasses but out in the real world many of us saw war clouds on the horizon. In our state, even with the weakness of McCain after his defeat in the Presidential election and Jan Brewer’s infamous viral mental gaffe, both were reelected with wide margins. It would be easy to attribute this to the weak opposition. It is definitely true the Democrats running against the incumbents were not engaging, but many people were energized because of SB-170, the anti-immigration policy. This didn’t get the people to come out and vote.

That was the sentiment across the country. Nationally the cameras focused on the Tea Party movement, showing a crowd who claimed to be for fiscal responsibility but there was a naked hint of hostility against the Obama Administration. It caused this group to walk in lock step to the polls and vote for Republicans. What should have not been a surprise, when the Republicans gained control of so many state houses, they began to enact legislation to secure their power, under the guise of fiscal emergency.

As if waking from a fog, people are seeing the sweeping changes being enacted by the Republicans. Now people are crying foul and trying to use the courts and other methods to stem the tide. Here is the problem with that action; it plays into the hands of the conservative talking heads. They have long maintained that progressives, in losing elections, would go to the courts to get activist judges to reverse the decision of the people. It’s pure manipulation by the conservatives, but it works to agitate their base and in listening to the State Senator, the Democrats will fall into the trap.

I see the problem being Democrats don't remember the past. In two years they went from trending up to trending down, yet they took comfort in some minor victories. The President did a lot but not as much as they hoped for, so they sulked in the corner and refused to vote. Another thing which really hurt was not piecing events together. While you could point to certain same sex marriage legislation as victories, when the Supreme Court said corporations could infuse money into campaigns that should have been a wake up call. When you had states like Arizona passing tough immigration reform laws that should have been a wake up call. You had things happening which signaled a shift in regional politics yet no one put the pieces together.

As much as I joked about Al Greene getting nominated by the Democrats for Senator of South Carolina, nationally it was thought of as a South Carolina issue. That was a mistake in hindsight because by dismissing that and other similar events we didn't look at the consequences. Republicans were nominating Tea Party people who had rather radical views about government. While many didn't win, those candidates had huge support and those supporters were dissatisfied with Washington politicians. Since they were in the Republican column, they voted for the Republican winner to send a message to the evil Democrats in Washington. Greene was an extreme case in a lot of ways, but it showed voters would vote for someone without any idea who or what they stood for. Even after Green was found out, after the few interviews that were done, he managed to get close to 30% of the vote when the final election came. While Christine O'Donnell lost her bid to become a Senator from Delaware, which was trumpeted by many progressive talkers, she managed to get a little over 40% of the vote.

Places like Arizona and Wisconsin were ignored from national coverage and probably from the Democratic committee, much like South Carolina was, and Republicans were able to sweep state and local governments. Now Democrats are at this odd position which is tough to defend. We had an election, the Republicans won and now because there have been huge gains by them they are systematically dismantling unions and other institutions. I agree with the Democrats in calling foul, however we have elections to decide things. Obviously there has to be preparation for the next election but the events of the past few months should be a wake up call not to take elections for granted. Sadly this won't be the case.

I am heartened by the scenes I've seen in Wisconsin, but to correct the issue the Democrats are going to the courts, they are having special elections, and all of this work should have been done in November of last year during the national election. My fear is this could cause a backlash in people who are spoon-fed news. They will continue to believe Democrats are sore losers and will get the courts to change anything voted on by the people.


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Fair Weather Progressives - March 14, 2011
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