Scott Walker defeated his opponents in the Wisconsin recall election

His was a landslide victory. Walker’s victory affirmed the party-duopoly which governs the United States because both candidates were system politicians in good standing, both accepted managed democracy as legitimate. Democracy ‘won’: the system ‘worked.’

Walker’s victory is an unqualified disaster for the left, at least for any left committed to popular participation, democratic accountability and equality. It does not matter a jot that Walker had enormous financial resources to use in this election, pace those who claim otherwise (see, for instance, this and this). He did not buy votes. The election was not decided by the work of a Republican Party Sturmabteilung. What matters is Walker was a nationally known political reactionary and who had the backing of the reactionary faction of the nation’s economic elite and oligarchs, and who used these resources to muster the popular support he needed to defeat all of his opponents in what appears to have been a fairly contested election. Walker had to be defeated in order for the left in America to deliver on the promises generated by the Wisconsin Uprising and by the Occupy Movement. Anything less than a Walker defeat in this recall election meant a general and decisive defeat of the political left.

How important was this election? In my estimation, the Wisconsin recall election was so important that Walker’s latest victory may well stand alongside Reagan’s destruction of PATCO, the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, Bush v. Gore, passage of the Patriot Act, the 2004 electoral affirmation of the Bush regime and the Iraq Occupation as well as Barack Obama’s steadfast affirmation of the security-surveillance state as recent landmark moments in the dissolution of America’s democracy.

Related articles

• Wisconsin recall 2012: Scott Walker prepares to defend governorship (wjla.com)
• Scott Walker defeats Tom Barrett to win 2012 Wisconsin recall election (winteryknight.wordpress.com)
• Decision day in Wisconsin: Stand with Governor Walker and rally for Rebecca (twitchy.com)
• Why Scott Walker’s victory in Wisconsin isn’t bad news for Obama’s re-election (thegrio.com)
• Wisconsin Republicans Are Trying to Discourage Voters (slog.thestranger.com)
• How Scott Walker Went to War on His Recall (time.com)
• Sarah Palin On Scott Walker’s Win: Perhaps Union Leaders ‘Need To Be Recalled And Replaced’ (mediaite.com)
• Gov. Scott Walker confident of the recall election outcome (fox6now.com)
• Wisconsin recall vote could foretell November election (mercurynews.com)
• Republican Scott Walker Wins Wisconsin Recall Election (mediaite.com)