This is another OFF TOPIC Wisconsin Political commentary. If not interested, please skip this post! You have been warned!
* * * In less than 24 hours Wisconsin polls will close on a historic recall effort to determine whether governor Scott Walker keeps his job or not. It's been an all-out political war since Scott Walker began a "divide and conquer" campaign against Wisconsin state unions over a year ago. "Divide and conquer". Those were Scott Walker's exact words which he used to describe what he was going to do to the collective bargaining issue. Scott spoke those words to Diane Hendricks a local billionaire who donated more than a half million dollars to support Walker's campaign when she asked what she could do to help turn Wisconsin into a "red state". Here's a so called "balanced" video of the controversy that surrounds Walker's use of the phrase, prepared by FOX news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDOKhqLguwg You had to have been here, to have seen the tens and thousands of protestors who surrounded the capital and occupied it day after day, week after week, often enduring horrid freezing weather. I was one of them. I was there. The last time I saw demonstrations of this intensity was during the Vietnam protests back in the late 1960s. I was about 15 at the time, and I wasn't allowed out on the streets. Insofar as the pro-walker demonstrations that I personally witnessed that surrounded the capital, those rallies were a tiny fraction compared to the rest that did not like what Walker was doing to the state. There is obviously considerable disagreement that divides us on the ideological front. BUT THERE WAS NEVER ANY VIOLENCE this time around and very few threats, this despite what FOX news often attempted to imply in some of its reporting. The latest polls indicate it's down to the line: 50-50. It could go either way. Walker has many supporters and many of them are rich, powerfully rich. Walker's financial benefactors easily outspent Tom Barrett, the democratic challenger, several times over. As just one ordinary citizen trying to meet his mortgage payments very month, I contributed what I could to what I believe was the right thing to do. Over the past year I estimate I have contributed enough money to have purchased a top-of-the-line i7 Laptop - in support of Tom Barrett. Whoever wins this election he will need to reach out to the other side. The losers will feel hurt, angry, and outraged. They will feel desperate too. An important point we shouldn't lose sight of is the fact that the losing side is still a huge and powerful voting bloc, and they are citizens just like me. The losing side, their opinions and concerns will have to be addressed. They will have to be heard just as much as those who are the victor. The newly elected governor will have to say: Come, let us reason together. I hate to say this, but I suspect Scott Walker could very well win this election - again. What concerns is the fact that not once during this entire political battle did I ever see any interest on Walker's part to "reason together". Not once. I suspect that is because Walker sincerely believes he doesn't have to. That worries me the most. But now we choose. Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks
