Anti-government protests common in U.S. history

Most off-election years are fairly quiet. Without doubt, 2009 is an exception. Anti-government protesters, name-calling by both sides, and a member of Congress reprimanded for calling the president a liar are just some of the lowlights of the past few months. Your columnists, with little shouting, offer their perspectives:

The "tea party" rallies, the 912 project and other anti-government protests are increasing. Is this a long-term trend or just a flash in the pan?

Pignanelli: "12 Highlanders and a bagpipe make a rebellion." — Scottish proverb. Every 10 to 20 years, a heated aggressive movement occurs in American political culture. The instigators usually claim a nonpartisan agenda, while the average participants are angry with the federal government and despise both political parties. Oftentimes, these movements propel third-party candidates including Ross Perot in 1992, John Anderson in 1980 (but Ronald Reagan eventually captured their support), George Wallace in 1968, etc.

The current protests, whether at the town hall meetings or demonstrations in various capitals, are the new versions of these generational outbursts. As with the prior movements, they articulate wonderful slogans and foster strong emotions, but it will eventually dissipate. The question is whether the activists will encourage a plausible third-party candidate in 2012.

Webb: When a president tackles an issue impacting every single American and one-sixth of the economy, you can bet many citizens are going to get riled up. That's not bad; it's good. The same do-gooders who used to complain about apathy and complacency are now wringing their hands over citizen activism.

Every year we hear that politics has become more toxic and divisive. That's baloney. We always remember the good old days fondly, but politics isn't any worse today than in past eras.

Today is nothing like the '60s, when we had rioting in the streets, people killed, thousands of people arrested and massive civil disobedience.

The Vietnam War and civil rights brought people out of complacency. Today it's a terrible economy and a massive federal takeover. Tomorrow it will be something else. Citizen activism is a great American tradition.

The House of Representatives sanctioned Rep. Joe Wilson for his outburst last week against President Barack Obama during the health-care reform speech. Was this really needed and will it have any effect?