For the love of fighting Bob.

• Author: Hightower, Jim
• Position: VOX POPULIST - Wisconsin governor Scott Walker

The best political party in America is neither Democratic nor Republican. By far, the best political party is a real party named "Fighting Bob Fest."

It's a daylong, outdoor political festival run by a coalition of Wisconsin progressives who believe in putting the party back in politics. Held in Madison every September, Fighting Bob Fest is like a state fair of politics, featuring give-em-hell speechifying, hot populist issues, terrific edibles and great local beers, lively music, dozens of activist booths, games, political humor, and ... well, fun!

The idea behind Fighting Bob Fest is to have a political event that people actually want to attend. The festival, sponsored by The Progressive and The Capital Times, is admission-free, run by and for regular people, funded largely each year by passing the bucket.

Fighting Bob Fest is named for Robert M. La Follette, the founder of The Progressive and a truly great U.S. Senator who was renowned for battling the corruption of American politics. In fact, when he was Wisconsin's governor a century ago, La Follette passed a law banning corporations from making donations to political candidates--a law that is still in effect.

However, corporate interests today have learned to use front groups to bypass the ban and dump millions of dollars into supporting their chosen candidates--including Wisconsin's current governor, Scott Walker.

Elected in 2010, Walker became so unpopular that he faced a recall election in 2012. Nearly a million people signed petitions to force this election. Yet Walker seemed to rise in front of our very eyes, magically lifting himself above the public's anger to avoid defeat. How'd he do that?

As reported by The Guardian newspaper, some 1,500 pages of secret emails, court testimony, and financial records were recently uncovered, revealing that Walker had a hidden lifeline of corporate and special-interest cash hoisting him up. Despite a Wisconsin law specifically...