Judith Coplon, who was convicted...

...of espionage and conspiracy more than 60 years ago, died at age 88. Her convictions were later overturned:

In 1952, after winning the right to a new trial, she remained free on $40,000 bail. The bail money was not returned until 1967, when the Justice Department formally dropped the case.

$40,000 was a lot of money in those days. The article doesn't say whether or not Ms. Coplon was paid interest.

Jennifer Brunner, a former...

...Ohio secretary of state, nicely summed up this week what she believed was happening in the Buckeye State (and elsewhere):

“A dozen cookies are put down in front of a C.E.O., a union member and a Tea Partier,” she said. “The C.E.O. takes 11. Then he says to the Tea Partier, ‘That union guy wants yours.’ ”

Duke Snider died on Sunday...

...and there was a charming piece in the Times about when he and his family actually lived in Brooklyn, in the 1950s. The Sniders rented a house there, went to block parties, and the Duke himself signed autographs for the kids in the neighborhood. Like I said, charming. (I can almost picture Snider holding a can of beer while flipping burgers on a Weber grill.)

But what really caught my attention was this:

Mr. Snider and a few of his teammates who lived in the neighborhood — like Pee Wee Reese or Carl Erskine — would car-pool together to their home games at Ebbets Field or the Polo Grounds, where their National League rivals, the New York Giants, played.

Can you imagine Major League baseball players today car-pooling? Can you imagine anyone car-pooling? 

Today's Republicans could learn...

...a thing or two from Otto von Bismarck, the first chancellor of a united Germany.

A wealthy Prussian aristocrat, Bismarck was the founder of the modern welfare state. In 1884, Bismarck declared:

The real grievance of the worker is the insecurity of his existence; he is not sure that he will always have work, he is not sure that he will always be healthy, and he foresees that he will one day be old and unfit to work. If he falls into poverty, even if only through a prolonged illness, he is then completely helpless, left to his own devices, and society does not currently recognize any real obligation towards him beyond the usual help for the poor, even if he has been working all the time ever so faithfully and diligently. The usual help for the poor, however, leaves a lot to be desired, especially in large cities, where it is very much worse than in the country.

The chancellor then went on to introduce a program which included health insurance, accident insurance, disability insurance and a retirement pension. (An immediate result was a dramatic decrease in emigration to America.)

While Bismarck had several motives behind his actions (heading off socialism was just one), he understood that to make German unification work he had to give the average person a reason to "buy-in" to the system. Otherwise, what would be "in it" for the typical German worker, farmer or tradesman? Among his many other reasons, Bismarck wanted to communicate the message that "There's something in it for you."

I'm reminded of this by Tom Friedman's column in the Times this morning, "This Is Just the Start," in which he explains how the unrest in the Middle East stems mainly from a lack of "buy-in" by the citizenry. Friedman quotes an imaginary Arab looking at President Obama:

“Hmmm, let’s see. He’s young. I’m young. He’s dark-skinned. I’m dark-skinned. His middle name is Hussein. My name is Hussein. His grandfather is a Muslim. My grandfather is a Muslim. He is president of the United States. And I’m an unemployed young Arab with no vote and no voice in my future.” 

Friedman also mentions:

A big issue in Bahrain, particularly among Shiite men who want to get married and build homes, is the unequal distribution of land. 

I'll let you read the rest of the piece, but my bottom line is this: If Republicans are intent on crushing the middle class in America, they had better prepare for discontent. Because if the average person doesn't see the system working for him anymore, he won't have "buy-in."

Like Bismarck, you've got to "give" people something to keep them on board. And Republicans could start by allowing unions in Wisconsin to keep collective bargaining.

Don't worry, Koch brothers, your lifestyle won't suffer.

Suze Rotolo, who was said...

...to be the inspiration for the Bob Dylan song, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," died at age 67.

Joe Scarborough writes...

...about "Wisconsin Nice" in Politico this morning:

A few years ago, researchers at Cambridge University wanted to figure out where the nicest Americans lived so they surveyed 650,000 people from all parts of the country. What did they find? That Wisconsin residents topped the list in nearly every category — from agreeableness to conscientiousness.

Wisconsin? Wha-a-at? Didn't those researchers ask about Minnesota?

Among Ronald Reagan...

...worshippers, the PATCO strike of 1981 was a watershed event:

Only a short time into his administration, federal air traffic controllers went on strike, violating a regulation prohibiting government unions from striking. Declaring the situation an emergency as described in the 1947 Taft Hartley Act, Reagan held a press conference in the White House Rose Garden, where he stated that if the air traffic controllers "do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated." Despite fear from some members of his cabinet over a potential political backlash, on August 5, Reagan fired 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work, busting the union. According to Charles Craver, a labor law professor at George Washington University Law School, the move gave Americans a new view of Reagan, who "sent a message to the private employer community that it would be all right to go up against the unions." This position was in stark contrast to Reagan's past as a labor union president of the Screen Actor's Guild, as well as his support for the Polish labor union Solidarity in its fight against Soviet domination.

I can practically hear the faithful sniffing as they wipe the tears from their eyes. You see, in Reagan lore, this episode led to everything from taming inflation (never mind that pesky Carter appointee, Fed Chairman Paul Volcker) to the fall of the Soviet Union. (The thinking being that the Kremlin saw Reagan as a more formidable foe than previously thought and simply gave up on the Cold War.)

But it certainly was a watershed event in the history of unions in America. Public opinion turned against unions once and for all and membership declined from about 21% of the work force to about 12% today. (7% in the private sector.)

And -- surprise, surprise -- Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker sees his current standoff with the public sector unions as reminiscent of the PATCO strike. From Walker's now infamous prank phone call from "David Koch":

Thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan … had one of the most defining moments of his political career when he fired the air traffic controllers… That was the first crack in the Berlin Wall and the fall of Communism… This is our moment. This is our time to change the course of history.

I wonder if Walker sees himself wearing a cowboy hat and riding a horse like the Gipper. This is my Ronald Reagan Moment!

I agree that this may be Walker's PATCO moment, but not in the way he imagines. Instead, I think this could be a PATCO moment in reverse. In other words, this could be the turning point for the radical laissez-faire economic philosophy that's gripped America for the last thirty years. (In this version, Walker is playing the part of PATCO, and the union is President Reagan.)

From Ezra Klein's blog today:

A new PPP poll of Wisconsin shows that if the Badger State's voters could do it over again, they'd elect Walker's opponent as governor. The change in sentiment is almost entirely attributable to self-identified Republicans who are also union members. They voted for Walker in November, and now wish they hadn't.