When Populism Turns Into Vigilantism

Mention the word "squirm" and most people think defendants in the witness chair. Or maybe babies and puppies in your arms. But in today's America, you can add three more to your list. Pupils in the state of Colorado....seniors in the state of Iowa ....bankers in the state of guilt everywhere!

In Fort Collins, Colorado, school districts are creatively seating their squirming students on tushy-sized rubber exercise balls. The theory is, organized squirming lets the kids concentrate better. The way the educators figure it, the brain is more engaged when the body is more engaged. Don't ask...! Although come to think of it, America did invent the rocking chair, making it possible to be sitting and moving all at the same time.

In Iowa, seniors took offense when the Department of Elder Affairs changed its name to the Department of Aging. That made the acronym DOA, and if you know your cop shows, that stands for dead-on-delivery. We seniors would just as soon not be toe-tagged by our own government this way.

However, today's biggest squirmers are the bankers. And with gargantuan good reasons. These riverboat gamblers are where we entrusted our hard-won money. And while there have been some notorious financial manipulators throughout history, some of today's swindlers are writing whole new chapters in white-collar crime. So if they're squirming right now, couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.

And yet there is a terrible irony to this scenario. The Great Recession and its many bailouts are teaching us a thorny lesson. It's hard to turn your own parents into the cops! You see, banks and bankers help parent our economy, because they feed it the nourishment it needs to live and grow. Or, to switch metaphors, consider FED Chairman Ben Bernacke (who borrowed directly from President Roosevelt back in 1937) when he said: "When your next door neighbor's house is on fire, you don't have to love him to know you have to help him put out the flames."

The squirming kids in Colorado and seniors in Iowa don't impact everyday life in 21st century America. But the sweating, squirming big-bank officers do. And the more we read about the continuing greed of their unconscionable bonuses, office decorations and pleasure trips, the more our populism erupts into vigilantism.

The new sheriff in town rides tall in the saddle. He and his deputies in Congress have rightly named the bad guys in the black hats. But before anyone in town has the right to claim any white hats in this plot, they first need to explain how they will use the noose not to kill the bankers, but to kill the ornery, bushwacking practices that have created this posse in the first place.

That takes a sheriff who's not so much quick on the trigger, but cool on the draw. And a posse who's willing to ride with him, not against him.