Love Wisconsin Cheese? Is that what stinks in Wisconsin?

So. The recall election is over in Wisconsin, and it is a Republican sweep, albeit a close one. To be sure, Republicans outspent Democrats by roughly 7 to 1. To “win” the Florida governors election Scott out spent Sink by more than 6 to 1.

These elections by themselves are troubling, but totally legal. You are allowed to buy your way into power in this country. More troubling is the portent for the future: the party with the most money to spend has the advantage. Which party is that? Why, the Republican Party of course. For the past several decades statistics show plainly that the rich are getting richer, very rich under Republican presidents (Bush tax cuts that gutted the economy but padded the rich with lots of extra income), and the poor keep getting poorer. The income gap continues to widen as the “One Percent” out paces the “Ninety-nine Percent”. Which means that one party will continue to have the “cash” capacity to buy elections.
So what happens is illustrated by Wisconsin and Florida: Out spend your opponent by huge factors and buy the election.  This bodes badly for future elections. Of course as a liberal I naturally think it will be bad. My conservative friends (yes, I do have a few) will think it good. Get rid of “Obamacare”, keep the “Bush tax cuts”, eliminate the EPA, the DOE, the ESA (endangered species act), the CAA (clean air act) etc. Get “Big Government” off our backs. Good idea. And while they are at it, they will kill what is left of the future for profits now. Then they will suffer with the rest of us. Oh well.
My solution? You know, don’t you? Good beer and wine, good friends and family and good travel. In other words, live for today because tomorrow probably won’t be worth living in.

Image: http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/walker.jpg?w=300&h=300