TWO GENERATIONS OF PROGRESS. In The War at Home, an early history of resistance to the Vietnam War in Madison (with appearances by webloggers Paul Soglin and James Rowen), there is a scene where a protestor lets a government official know that his hope the protestors would come around once they understand the policy is futile, because the protestors understand the policy and disagree with it.

Now comes the tax day protests, not yet as organized as the Madison antiwar protests (which were under way well before Lyndon Johnson lost Walter Cronkite), with the fourth estate deputising for The Best and The Brightest. at the Chicago protest.

The video is getting a great deal of play, particularly on conservative sites, where CNN's Susan Roesgen becomes an object of ridicule. I'm put off by the vapidity of the exchange. The best the protestor can come up with is some platitudes about taxation and the debt facing his child. The reporter does no better, suggesting Illinois will get some money from the new budget and the special stimulus bill by way of rebuttal, or perhaps advancing the establishment's talking points.

She's off by an order of magnitude on how much money. But a better-informed protestor would be able to say "I understand that, but the money is earmarked for useless projects, and I'm opposing the policy precisely because my son will be on the hook for the useless projects." We can have a conversation about the utility or uselessness of the projects.