A farewell to Scott Walker's presidential bid:

     When I saw the caption, "Scott Walker drops out," on MSNBC, I felt glad, and then it occurred to me that he will now resume occupying space in Wisconsin, the state he's governed from a distance ever since Charles and David Koch employed their sorcerous spells to convince Walker he had what it takes to run the America Corporation.
     Do Wisconsinites want Walker back?  I remember the recall election of 2012, when Democrat Tom Barrett ineffectually challenged the sitting governor, losing to superior organization and monied interests.  It didn't matter, finally, that thousands of protestors attracted worldwide notice in Madison, the state's capitol, during a time when the Arab Spring showed people power crying out against oppression supported by status quo policies and armed might supported for decades by first world mentalities.
     Lawn signs in 2012 read We Stand With Walker.  They were blue (color of the Democratic Party), not red (color of the Republican Party).  Co-opting an enemy's color is an old propaganda trick.  Hitler, when he designed the Nazi Party's flag in the early 1920s, chose red as the dominant color partly because that was the color associated with Communists, his enemies.
      Wisconsin has been equally divided between those who support Walker, and those who despise him.  That enmity is never talked about by the New York-Washington news commentators, because they don't live in Wisconsin; they haven't heard the bilious remarks coming from the mouths of otherwise nice people, who hate Scott Walker's guts.
      One of Walker's strengths as presidential contender originated in that recall election.  Elected in 2010, he beat the recall in 2012, and then was reelected in 2014.  Wisconsin is stuck with him until early 2019 at the earliest.  He will characterize Wisconsin's 2010s like Reagan characterized America's 1980s.
     What is he, politically, but a servant of corporatism?  He makes it easier for fat cats to do their damage.  Wisconsin, once a Democratic haven, became under Walker a free zone for capitalistic cutthroats.  His success at representing plutocratic outsiders (the Kochs), combined with simple-minded Christian values (excluding true compassion), made him a seemingly ideal presidential candidate for these times so characterized by fascination with wealth and surging nationalism.
     Yet, Walker failed.  His strength at winning elections (small scale) should've translated to the big 2016 win, and a president more ultimately mediocre than Calvin Coolidge.  What we've seen over this summer, however, is the power of personality.  Trump exploded over his Republican competitors.  Walker, covered like the rest of them in Trump's goo, couldn't get noticed.  Jeb Bush, like Walker, is just a step above quitting, but the campaign finance obscenities made legal by the Citizens United decision make it possible for dead campaigns to linger beyond relevancy.  (It may seem incorrect of me to suggest that Jeb Bush isn't going to be the Republican nominee, but what keeps him alive is the money supporting him.  His name is a haunt).
     Anyone watching this year's political process should realize that success at gaining the nomination, and possibly the presidency, is based entirely on the manipulation of information--on how well the candidates can direct their bullshit.  There's nothing noble or moral about it.  If Scott Walker has done anything smart in the last few months, it's stepping out of a toxic river he couldn't navigate to resume his familiar job: wrecking Wisconsin.

                                                                                 Vic Neptune