By Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive

June 7, 2012

Spare me the spin. This was a whupping.

After sixteen months of the most historic and exciting citizens’ uprising that I’ve ever been a part of in my thirty-five years of progressive activism and journalism, we’re left with this disaster.

Scott Walker is governor for another two and a half years.

He claims vindication for his rightist onslaught.

The national rightwing media is carrying him around on their shoulders.

And the Koch Brothers are popping the expensive champagne.

Meanwhile, the movement-a real giant grassroots movement, which flooded the capitol square with more than 100,000 people and which gathered a million recall signatures-is disintegrating.

From Jill Stein for President, June 06, 2012:

The Green Party’s Jill Stein has clinched her party’s presidential nomination after celebrating a major victory in yesterday’s California primary, winning 49% of the vote against her chief contenders, television comedienne Roseanne Barr and public servant Kent Mesplay. The California win followed other recent Stein victories in Michigan, Florida, and Iowa.

With 182 delegates required to win the nomination, and 194 delegates now in hand, Stein will go into the Green Party convention in Baltimore, July 12-15, with a clear majority of delegates. She has won over 66% of all delegates allocated, and 27 of 29 Green Party primaries, with the next nearest candidate, Roseanne Barr, at 22%.

From Jill Stein for President, June 06, 2012:

Dr. Jill Stein, the victor in the Green Party presidential primaries, this morning issued the following statement about yesterday’s recall elections in Wisconsin:

“For over a year now, the working people of Wisconsin have been under siege by the fossil fuel, mining, and toxic chemical corporations. Yesterday’s recall election was deeply flawed. Thousands of qualified voters were turned away from their polling places. Thousands more were told not to vote, or that election day was yet to come. The corporate media declared the election results while voters still stood in line to vote, and at a time when only the most conservative ward results were reported. Many votes were cast on electronic voting machines that are easy to manipulate because they lack a paper trail. And nearly all of the money spent in the election came from out-of-state big corporate interests. If an election like that is free and fair, then I have a nuke plant in Vermont to sell you.”

The Green Party, while struggling to establish itself in the United States, is part of a global political movement that is continually gaining steam and finding traction in various nooks and crannies across the planet.

It’s always reassuring to find gains and breakthroughs happening in other countries, so this Global Greens report on the UK local elections is a good sign that people are increasingly open to new approaches, and that the Greens are offering something fundamentally different than the standard bearer political parties. From the European Green New Deal policies to the Scotland Greens’ focus on improving local councils, the Green Party is slowly finding its voice and its focus, and people are responding with their votes.