"This will all be over soon."

No, I'm not reading many of your minds or your prayers. I'm quoting characters in the new PBS drama "Mercy Street," commenting on the Civil War. The show takes place in 1862, when the war had really just begun – it wouldn't end until 1865.

I might just as well have quoted characters in a Revolutionary War drama – another time in American history when real people, in the real moment, thought the conflict would wrap up quickly.

Gov. Jeb Bush’s early presidential fundraising extravaganza, described by some as a "shock and awe” strategy (a cringe-worthy reference to the bombing of Baghdad in 2003), was similar – a bit like saying “let’s make this quick.”



And we know how all of those scenarios turned out. The wars went on for years, and many of those who believed the conflicts would end quickly in their favor ... were wrong.

Bush's campaign struggled for a period of months, but you can bet it felt like longer to the people who wrote five- or six-figure checks. And they lost.

Revolution, my friends, is messy. And it is not quick. It does not hew to two-year political cycles. It does not have crystal clear sides of right and wrong, at least not in the heat of the moment. It has casualties that we cannot imagine at the outset.

We. Are in the midst. Of a bloodless (hopefully). Revolution.

And to be clear, I am not just talking about Donald Trump. Yes, his supporters are rebels, but so are Sen. Ted Cruz's supporters. So are Sen. Bernie Sanders' supporters.



This uprising of the terribly frustrated, deeply pissed-off middle class will not end soon. It will not end in November. Because guess what? No matter who comes out on top, a whole lot of people are going to be very, very disappointed at best. More than likely, we will have hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of people who will have seen their hopes for meaningful change crushed and are angry and/or terrified on the morning of Nov. 9, 2016.

And unless the winner in November is a transformative leader who can heal the wounds of both sides...

Unless real, dramatic change in government can quickly release the working and middle class from the profound economic insecurity that feels like an anchor around their necks…

Unless the American Dream gets back within reach, fast…

The revolution will go on.

(Spoiler alert: None of the candidates seem very likely to become great healers.)

