Right-Wing Goes Wrong in Wisconsin

The Wisconsin State Senate voted this evening to eviscerate the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions. The vote, conducted while Democratic state senators remained in Illinois, was absurdly conducted. The Republican state senators, in possible violation of Wisconsin law, held a conference committee to bring the anti-union bill to a "full" senate vote. After that, a sham vote was held, worthy of a banana republic.

The Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, is now a right-wing hero. He should not be. Whatever the merits of the right-wing case against unions, there is no strong case for Walker's authoritarian actions. However, right-wing politicians have shown a taste for such methods. They are either convinced of the justice of their actions and beliefs, they are committed to an ideological agenda that permits no compromise, or they are corrupt. It is possible Walker fits all three categories.

The Wisconsin vote is a moment of shame for conservatives, although many right-wingers are feeling a profound sense of victory. They may even believe their movement is on "the right side of history." Yet there is something deeply misguided with a political juggernaut that hides its goals from the electorate, that conducts Communist Party-style votes, that is bought and paid for by secretive, wealthy patrons, and that relies on propaganda vehicles to communicate a cocktail of opinion, fact, misstatements, and lies.

The Democratic Party should not feel so proud of itself, either. Its leader, the president of the United States, was notably silent on the Wisconsin standoff. Leading US senators were virtually invisible. It is a point of embarrassment when an arrogant film maker such as Michael Moore could show up at a rally and articulate a point of view, while Democratic Party leaders were plainly MIA.

What Wisconsin union members, and their national brethren, discovered was that Obama had never been in their camp. That stance should have been plain from the Obama-Duncan education "reforms," which essentially was a frontal assault on teachers' unions. The Democratic el foldo was only ennobled by the Wisconsin state senators' desperate effort to foil the Walker fronted, nationally conspired, right-wing scheme.

The people who protested were the best actors in the political drama to date. They protested peacefully, much to the chagrin of conservative agitators and their supporters who live in the shadows of publicity and the halls of power. They had a sense of democratic possibility, and a willingness to speak up for what they believed were their rights. Now they are on a moral and political island, without leadership but with a cause.

Senatorial recalls are just the beginning of increased domestic political turmoil. The right-wing's cultural revolution will only lead to increased disregard for what's left of respect for the law and legitimate political behavior. The economic catastrophe of 2008 continues to fester, afflicting the households most impacted by actions such as the union dismantling efforts.

However, both conservatives and reluctant Democrats should be very wary of the genie that the Wisconsin sham vote has released. History, and historical movements, have a way of being unpleasantly unpredictable.