The recall elections in Wisconsin are over and the politico-media complex is sure to use the event to spin propaganda and advertizing profits for days to come. (The politico-media complex is the equivalent of the military-industrial complex in terms of a self-perpetuating profit maker and, also in terms of its destructive potential). Before Fox News and MSNBC go off spinning and advertizing, here’s my take on what it all means.
One significant lesson is that attacking labor and education is a lightening-rod for the Progressive base. Labor unions (what is left of them) were a funding and organizational force, but the Wisconsin recalls were a real grass roots movement. Before the right wing goes off on how much Unions funded the recalls, consider this: 80% of the money used in the elections (an estimated $25 million of the $31 million) were contributed by out of State entities and most of that money went to Republican candidates. In this sense, the animation of the Progressive base was a clear victory.
Another lesson learned is that Right Wing efforts to buy or steal elections is continuing. Fake Democratic candidates were funded by Republicans to run against real Democrats in the primaries in an attempt to deceive voters and deplete funds. Votes cast in some Republican districts were withheld by until results from Democratic-leaning districts were announced. This is an important lesson to learn because there is a concerted effort by Republican State Legislatures to suppress the vote in the next Federal elections, and secret Corporate donations are already pouring into the next Presidential Campaign.
Finally, Republican office-holders know the real significance of these recalls. It is extremely rare for a recall election to be held, let alone to be successful. There have been only 20 recorded State recalls in the entire 235 year history of the country and of those that were successful, the incumbents had committed a crime or scandal. The fact that 2 Senators from Republican Districts were defeated for policy reasons is scaring the daylights out of other Republicans.
FiegerTime - Geoffrey Fieger's Blog 
I think Fieger’s politico-media complex is just another control device for the corporate facist state.
On the split ticket/running shill candidates issue, Karl Rusnak posted an article on this exact subject yeasterday, at http://www.economyincrisis.org – here is an excerpt.
“What we end up with is a government where almost no one stands up for an idea. This is largely because we have a system where voting for a third party candidate means throwing your vote away. Our plurality based, winner-take-all system of voting means that when a third party is involved, the most popular ideas often lose.
Republicans are already seeing this problem with Tea Party challengers for Republican held seats. If a Republican garners 30 percent of the vote, a Tea Party challenger 30 percent of the vote, and a Democrat 40 percent of the vote, the Democrat will win despite the fact that most people in the district voted for a conservative candidate. Many believe that Ralph Nader’s candidacy cost Al Gore the election in 2000 for this reason.
In an ideal system, third party ideas would not be seen as a threat to those who are most closely aligned ideologically with the third party. If most individuals want a representative who holds liberal ideals, shouldn’t the electorate be able to choose from a range of individuals with liberal ideals without fearing that by choosing one they will sabotage the chance of having a liberal in office?
Other countries have solved this problem by going to a proportional representation system. In a proportional system voters rank candidates in order of preference, and the winner is calculated based on how all voters rank each candidate. Under this system it is possible that a candidate may receive a plurality of 1st choice votes, but still be defeated by another candidate if all other voters placed them low in their preferences. This ensures that if a majority of voters are strongly opposed to a candidate, that candidate cannot win by simply splitting the votes between his or her opponents.”
The spending in this recall is why action needs to be taken.
‘People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public or in some contrivance to raise prices.’ (Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776).
“Small business creates most of the jobs.”, Paul Ryan, Republican Congressman, Fox News Sunday, August 7, 2011
Why is our government and conservatives not protecting small business from big business? Could it be that the large oligopolies are also large contributors to our politicians?
What does the American auto industry, the health care industry, wall street firms and the banking industry all have in common; other than they were all on the brink of failure? Read more: http://bit.ly/pLvVEy
Deception is what life is built on, and not just in the political arena.
Julie
You are right Jeff, Unions created the Middle Class. Happy Labor Day