re: #411 HappyWarrior

I wonder what people actually see in Walker. He seems like no better than a bully to me.

People are afraid.

People are afraid of losing their jobs.

People are afraid of losing their jobs, and are eager to believe that they can get rich.

People are afraid of losing their jobs, and are eager to believe that they can get rich, if only they weren’t stopped by their adversaries (whoever they may be.)

For many, many years now the defining characteristic of American politics has been based on social groups, not abstract concepts. Gov. Walker and his rich friends have been very smart in being able to convince the little people that the only hope said little people have in finding security (read: riches) is to let the big boys lead them into the Kingdom of Capitalism, unfettered by such evils like governments and unions.

This has been going on for a very long time. Remember, WI used to be much more industrial, and now it, like so many other of the Great Lakes states, find themselves in a post-Industrial Revolution evolution. I’m afraid the Democratic party machinery appears stuck in the past, unable to adapt to a world where unions are seen as truly evil by the reactionary movement that I trace back to at least the 1950’s.

A long, long time ago Wisconsin was a leading progressive state. Those days are past.