In Wisconsin, the reactionaries are in the streets

The Toronto Globe and Mail's Margaret Wente notes the key distinction between North African and North American demonstrations:

Everyone in Canada has been transfixed by the popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Too bad we’ve ignored the tens of thousands of protesters converging across the border in Wisconsin. The drama playing out there is likely to have a far bigger impact on our lives, far sooner.

In Madison, unlike Cairo’s Tahrir Square, it’s the reactionaries, not the reformers, who are in the streets. It’s the labour groups and old-line Democrats who are relentlessly agitating for the status quo. The reformers are in the statehouse. And, as usual, the reactionaries are the last to know their time is up.

Indeed.