The Wisconsin recall election was the first major test of the new era in American politics. That new era began in January of 2010 when the US Supreme Court ruled in “Citizens United v. FEC” that the political voice of We The People was no longer as important as the voices of billionaires and transnational corporations.

Now we know the result, and it bodes ill for both 2012 and for the tattered future of small-d democracy in our republic. A few of America’s most notorious oligarchs – including the Koch and the DeVos (Amway fortune) billionaires – as well as untraceable millions from donors who could as easily be Chinese government-run corporations as giant “American” companies who do most of their business and keep most of their profits outside the US – apparently played big in this election.

I say “apparently” because the Supreme Court has ruled that we no longer have the right to know who is really funding our election commercials, or even our candidates themselves. Thanks to an irrational and likely illegal Supreme Court ruling, we have moved into an era of oligarch-run politics. As much as $40 million of our oligarch’s money was spent in Wisconsin in a handful of local races – a testing laboratory for strategies that will now be used against Democrats nationwide in 2012.

And so now we enter the battle of the oligarchs over the next fifteen or so months. As the old saying goes, when the elephants fight, the mice get trampled. In this case, the mice aren’t just the voters. It’s democracy itself. America is now – demonstrably, as proven by Wisconsin – just a few years away from the possibility of a totally corrupted, totally billionaire- and corporate-controlled political system. Political scientists call it oligarchy.

The Citizens United election experiment is over, and the oligarchs won. Long live the oligarchy.

-Thom

(What now? Tell us here.)

"Video: Tax Havens and the Men Who Stole the World"

The Daily Stack

Quote: "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." -- Edmund Burke, statesman and writer (1729-1797).

Article: "Wisconsin Republicans Win 4 of 6 Seats in Recall Election, Retain Senate".

Article: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" by Justice J Stevens.

Fighting back against Citizen's United Ben Manski, Democracy Convention / Liberty Tree

Site: "Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution".

Site: "Move to Amend".

Site: "Democracy Unlimited".

Site: "Democracy Convention".

Site: "American Independent Business Alliance".

Site: "Alliance for Democracy".

Site: "Center for Media and Democracy".

Site: "Progressive Democrats of America".

Article: "The Powell Memo or Manifesto".

Article: "Reid names Sens. Murray, Baucus and Kerry to new debt committee" by Agence France-Presse.

Article: "GOP Leaders Pick Conservative Members To Serve On Deficit Super Committee" by Brian Beutler.

Hour Two: Fighting back against corporate personhood David Cobb, Attorney / Green Party candidate for President in 2004 / spokesperson for MoveToAmend.org

Case: "Plessy v. Ferguson", 1896.

Case: "Brown v. Board Of Education", 1954.

Site: Green Party.

Site: "Independent Progressive Politics Network".

Recall results and what's next John Nichols, Washington Correspondent - The Nation Magazine

Article: "Wisconsin Recall Replaces Two Republican Senators" by John Nichols.

Article: "This Is What Democracy Looks Like: A Wisconsin Recall Primer " by John Nichols.

Crazy alert: "Mike Huckabee to perform with Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty at Ames Straw Poll" by Alexander Burns.

Site: "Brad Blog".

Site: "Mark Crispin Miller".

Article: "Constitution of the United States", article 3.

Site: "Rebuild the Dream" campaign.

Talk Radio News Segment: Victoria Jones, White House Correspondent

Article: "Boehner, McConnell Tap Trios For Super Committee, Ryan Left Off" by TRNS.

Article: "First Selections Named to Panel Tasked With Making Spending Cuts" by CHL.

Article: "Frank: Military spending cuts, end to tax cuts could lower deficit" by Jim Hand.

Article: "UK riots Tuesday: As it happened" by TVNZ.

Article: "London riots: Parliament to be recalled" by BBC

Article: "England riots: Fightback under way, says PM" by BBC.

Article: "Birmingham riots: three men killed 'protecting homes'" by James Orr.

Article: "Boris Johnson calls for halt to coalition police cuts".

Article: "No 10 rejects Boris Johnson call for police cuts to be scrapped" by Andrew Sparrow.

Hour Three: What is authentic conservatism and why did the Republican Party abandon it? Tom Pauken, Texas Workforce Commission

Book: "Bringing America Home" by Tom Pauken.

Case: "Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad", 1886.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

Case: "First National Bank Of Boston V. Bellotti", 1978.

The good: Lucy Nobbe: "Single Mom Hires Small Plane To Buzz Wall Street With Message: You Should All Be Fired" by John Del Signore.

The bad: "Facing Islamophobic Backlash, Whole Foods Instructs Stores Not To ‘Promote’ Ramadan This Year" by Tanya Somanader.

The very, very ugly: "VIDEO: At Rick Perry Rally, Tom DeLay Hopes For A Longer Government Shut Down Next Month" by Lee Fang and Scott Keyes.

Book: The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, Thomas L. Friedman.

Book: "None Dare Call It Treason" by John A. Stormer.

Book: "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville.

Article: "S&P Director: GOP’s Balanced Budget Amendment Would Hurt America’s Creditworthiness" by Marie Diamond.

Article: "No Turnout For Kochs' Americans For Prosperity Tour, Ironically Called "Running on Empty"" by Kristen Gwynne.

Article: "Moody's Analytics Warns Student Loans May Be The Next Financial Bubble To Burst" by Tyler Kingkade.

Hour Two: How do we kick start the economy and get people back to work? Peter Ferrara

Plus, Geeky Science Rocks - the mystery of the missing fingerprints!

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program... your media support group for we the people.

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