Exaggeration springs eternal

Last week, I bumped into one of my students on her way to the "Occupy America" protest near Wall Street. I told her I was glad she was participating in the most exciting political development I'd seen in years. "You're right," she replied cheerily. "It's like our own Arab Spring."

No, it isn't. Such analogies demean demonstrators in the Middle East, who have risked torture and death. And they discount America's rich tradition of free speech, which has been on vibrant display since the Occupy America movement began.

The Arab Spring rhetoric is all around us. It's on some of the signs in New York and at other Occupy America sites around the country, including City Hall in Philadelphia. Last week, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus also invoked it.

"They see the inequalities that exist in this country," Rep. John Larson of Connecticut said of the American protesters. "Everybody ought to take heed that it's not only an 'Arab Spring,' but there is an 'American Fall' as well."

Larson is right about inequality. By every measure - income, home ownership, education - the gap between our haves and have-nots has widened. That's why I'm a fan of the Occupy America demonstrators, who have shone a bright light on these facts.