Wisconsinites have seen the future that the Republicans and Wall St. have for them and they don't like it.
However, the GOP is skilled at branding. They define their brand ("fiscal responsibility") and they define our brand ("Tax and Spend", "Deficits") etc. Seldom does our side do the same. "Anti-union". It's true, but most people aren't in unions anymore. "Tax cuts for the wealthy". It's true, but most Americans hope to be wealthy some day.
And yet, when it's exposed to them, as it was in Wisconsin, in its full regalia, people don't like it, and they know they don't like it. But we lack a pithy slogan for what we're opposing.
Across the line, down here in Illinois, we managed to keep the Republicans out of the State House. And Gov. Quinn has with a good deal of courage, passed a tax increase. That's really the choice. Are you going to raise taxes to pay for what you need, or pander to tax-cut mania and not have what you need. But the GOP is trying to make a comeback on these grounds. They're once again trying to make it all about taxes. Negative campaigning works, policy wonking doesn't.
So where's our branding for where Republican politics are trending? I nominate "Mississippi Model" as our name for it. Wisconsinites want nothing to do with low-wage, no-rights, lousy educational system and all the other features that have been developed in Mississippi. Clearly, this is what the Tea Party has in mind for northern industrial states and we need to make them own it.
Keep your Mississippi Model in Mississippi if you like it, we don't want it here.