While I don’t go in much for predictions – especially political ones – since no one is ever really prepared to go out on a limb and come up with something completely earth-shattering, this Washington Post column is as good as any I’ve seen. I especially believe this one by Ed Rogers – I’ve been talking this up on occasion for a while in these spaces:

The biggest political surprise in 2011 may come in the form of the shock produced by public-sector labor strikes and demonstrations that could stray into civil disorder as state and local governments cut budgets. Government workers could be laid off by the thousands, and millions of the beneficiaries of government-supplied salaries, pensions and benefits could see reductions in pay and program allowances they have been told to expect.

The same kind of protests that have rocked Paris, London and Rome could erupt in California, New York and Illinois.

We are heading into uncharted political territory as state and local governments face the reality that promises can’t be kept. Will the unionized government institutions go down without a fight? Will the dependent class of Americans that government has created just shrug and accept the spending-cut medicine?

The schism between the governed and those governing could become greater than ever as the government tries to protect itself for its own sake and not for the public good. The millions of Americans who have lost jobs or face increasing economic uncertainty resent the relative posterity and security that government now provides for itself. President Obama will say he is for more “stimulus,” but even the money-making printing presses in Washington are at their limits.

Besides, with a Republican majority in the House and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell having veto power in the Senate, there will not be a bailout from Washington.

Anyone who thinks the riots in Greece and France can’t happen here underestimate the sheer power and audacity of the public service unions. There were smatterings of violence by SEIU thugs in response to the tea party gatherings and other forums where conservative citizens simply expressed their freedom of speech rights during the 2010 campaign; just wait till the states they’ve negotiated their incredibly-generous wage and benefit contracts with can no longer fund or support them. One look at what happened last week in New York City during the blizzard, when a baby and an elderly woman died because no one could get to them because of the unplowed streets provides a glimpse of a very unsettling future.

Townhall’s Terry Paulson writes of the seriousness of this situation from a similar angle; why the mainstream dino-media continues to ignore this story is beyond me, as it is something that all of us – every single citizen – is going to be affected by in the coming months and years to some extent. Why we can’t have an honest and mature debate about this is beyond me. When the top one percent of all wage-earners foot 40% of all federal taxes paid and 40% of the country pays no taxes at all, something is desperately wrong. Of course, since this debate would involve the extent to which the federal government is involved in our everyday lives – an extent to which there should ne no bounds as far as the elite ruling class in Washington and their bow-tied, bum-kissing syncophants in the media is concerned – that’s not likely to happen.

And’s that’s more than a shame, it’s criminal as far as I’m concerned.