“It's just so striking how divided the two parties are right now and how Wisconsin is flipping back and forth wildly from one extreme to another. There doesn't seem to be any political middle that's able to moderate these violent mood swings.” — Mike McCabe, director of the independent watchdog group the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign¹
Today, in Wisconsin but true all over America, it seems as if our politics has become so divisive that we are stalemated in addressing so many of our most pressing issues. Indeed, just as we think something has been decided then the pendulum swings and the other side tries to undo what was just accomplished.
There seems to be no price to pay when politicians today refuse to bargain and find compromises. Rather they seem to relish the opportunity to blame the other side for the impasse even as they harden their own position.
Now, even our elections are being undermined as each side demands a redo. We aren't going forward; we're descending into anarchy.
Excerpted from “If You Can't Beat 'em, Recall' Em: Gov. Scott Walker, Bipartisan Lawmakers Targeted; Amid Labor Standoff, Lawmakers From Both Parties Face Recall Efforts” BY CHRIS BURY, ABC News, March 8, 2011
[SIZE="+2"]S[/SIZE]ixteen Wisconsin state senators — eight Republicans and eight Democrats — are the early targets of recall efforts, an unprecedented number in American politics.
The eight Democrats are among the 14 Democrats who fled the state to prevent a vote that would strip unions of their negotiating rights, but have been in office for at least a year.
The eight Republicans were targeted for recall because they support Walker's anti-union bill.
In 1921, recall elections forced North Dakota governor Lynn Frasier and two other statewide officials from office. In recent years, no more than two legislators have been recalled in any one year.
It seems inconceivable that America is able to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century this way. The center cannot hold and we are condemned to witness an unending tug of war over our increasing stretched and tattered nation.
TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
— William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming”
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
— William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming”
