Renouncing loyalties

An estimated 30,000 people turned out on Sat. at Prague Castle to cheer and jeer. It was more than Barack Obama attracted on the same spot six weeks ago, when he spoke about the need to bridge divisions in the world by eliminating nuclear arsenals. More pressing to the minds of the protesters on Sat. was the need to bridge divisions between employers and workers. According to union leaders, employers are attempting to make workers pay the full cost of the economic crisis. The government, too, got its share of the blame, for failing to deal properly with the crisis. One thing that employers and workers alike might increasingly agree upon, if they could put down their weapons for a moment, is that government has become more of a problem than a solution. No matter who wins the elections this fall, the next government might find that it doesn't have its usual support from either business or labor. [Czech Republic president United States of America U.S. ČMKOS]