Let the Revolution Begin

Last week on The Diane Rehm Show, Republican Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana made the following statement: "We've evolved to a situation where the privileged, the elite in American society, really, are government unions."

Really, Governor Daniels? Public employees who happen to belong to unions are the elite in our society? Last time I checked the elite were those wealthy 2% of Americans who enjoyed yet another round of tax breaks.

The divide in America keeps growing, which is one reason the protests in Madison persist. My brother-in-law Al, from Milwaukee, was there this weekend with 70,000 others, himself a non-union, private-sector employee. Signs of solidarity spring up in the most unlikely places, as people from around the world continue to call Ian's Pizza shop to donate pizzas to the Wisconsin protesters.

Has the revolution in America finally begun? After all, we are hardly the democracy we claim to be. Our wealth is concentrated in so few hands and in so few businesses that we can't make progress in controlling health care costs, rebuilding our infrastructure, reducing our oil addiction, eliminating pollutants, protecting ourselves from predatory bankers, or regulating guns. In each case the people with the money dictate the policy, and in each case, we--the people--lose.

To paraphrase George Bush, of all people, I say, "Bring it on." Let the revolution begin.