The Libertarian Party, long a foe of just about everything having to do with government, could teach the tea partiers a few things about extremism. As the federal government shutdown began today, the result of negotiations hung up on nonbudgetary items such as abortions and global warming, the Libertarians issued a statement asking Americans to imagine what a wonderful world a permanent shutdown might produce.

"The world would enjoy peace as we withdrew our forces from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. Our government spends almost as much on the military as the rest of the world combined. Millions of industrious men and women who work for the military and its contractors could be focusing on building up our economy, rather than tearing down others',"said Executive Director Wes Benedict

"Crime would plummet as the government's War on Drugs ended, no longer sustaining a giant violent black market and overfilling our prisons."

Somehow, it's hard to imagine that an end to war and the war on drugs are the objective House Republicans have in mind.

"Class warfare" has been a term that has been typically been used in recent decades, at least in a political context, by Republicans, who accuse Democrats of engaging in such whenever they talk of taxing the rich or, for instance, allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire only for those with incomes of more than $250,000.

But there are indications that Republicans may have inadvertentely fired a volley that could trigger such warfare when GOP governors in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and elsewhere have sought, and in some cases succeeded, in eliminating collective bargaining rights for public sectors workers.

The California Federation of Teachers, which is now pushing for a tax increase on those with incomes of more than $500,000, today released a poll measuring Californians' sentiment on the collective bargaining issue. It found broad public support here for collective bargaining rights for public sector workers (61 percent support, 32 percent oppose).

Interestingly, the poll also framed a question in a kind of class warfare context. It asked likely California voters which they thought was a bigger problem "facing California's budget right now." They were given two choices: "public employee salaries, pensions and benefits" or "the wealthy and corporate interests not paying their fair share of taxes."
The results: 52 percent said it was the wealthy not paying enough taxes, 32 percent said it was public employee salaries and benefits, 8 percent said both and 5 percent said neither.

The results suggest why the notion of "class warfare" is viewed among some as so dangerous: If battlelines get drawn, the numbers will inevitably favor those who are not wealthy.