If I remember my history correctly, it was Lenin's government that declared labor unions unnecessary, reasoning that since the government was by definition, of the workers, "who needs them?" You can bet, Cockburn, that if a mob breaks loose and starts dispensing justice from the ground, as it were, it will not be under the guidance of Hobsbawm's concept of the age of revolution. You are quite right to remind us all of lynchings, which are the American brand of the people's justice. There will be no Paris Commune here. There have been, and unfortunately most likely will continue to occur, disturbing acts of right-wing style terrorism, like attacks on government buildings and innocent citizens who engage in lawful activities (like performing abortions) distasteful to the right. That's were the money is, after all, and as you never lose the opportunity to point out, money drives everything on this side of the Atlantic. So let's not get too romantically involved with outdated notions of the politically correct populism we all yearned for in yesteryear. They make for a nice interlude in Eureka, but better we leave them behind now that we've been ejected from the comfy womb of historical nostalgia into the hard, cold reality of the 21st.

P.S. Dump the anti-global warming campaign--go for cutting down on the baby-making.

Jung claimed a universal mind; he may have been right. I was just last week talking about a guillotine to publicly right the score. Who shall do the knitting; any suggestions?

You are so right, the guilty seem beyond reach. Larry Summers would be one of the first on my list; to be sure, he has his new job in part to protect their flanks.

Thanks for another fine column,

Patrick Hunter
Carbondale, CO