The revolution in U.S. politics is nearly here.

• Author: Wolfson, Lewis

"EVERYBODY KNOWS things are bad," the half-crazed anchorman cries out in the 1976 movie "Network." "Everybody is out of work or scared of losing their job. . . . Banks are going bust. . . . The air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. Some local newscaster tells us that today there were 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be . . . [and] all we can say is, ~Please, leave us alone. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials. . . .'

"Well, I'm not going to leave you alone. . . . You've got to say, 'I'm a human being, dammit, and my life has value. . . .' I want all of you to get up out of your chairs and go to the window, open it, and yell, ~I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore.' "

Eighteen years later, Americans are leaning out of their windows. They are making a new American revolution, but neither the politicians nor the press in Washington has grasped fully its depth and extent. The revolutionaries have moved from apathy to alienation to action.

The rising tide could push Washington beyond the modest reforms now contemplated to the kind of larger revolution in government Americans have not seen in more than half a century: overhauling the Federal bureaucracy to make it more efficient and public service-conscious; an ambitious rethinking of the way Congress does the people's business that goes beyond tinkering with campaign finances and reorganizing committees; and reinvigorating the parties--or else.

One of these days, the President and Congress could find tens of thousands of Americans camped on their doorstep, not to raise the roof for or against spending or abortion, but to take over because officials just don't get it. They do not grasp that many Americans have had their fill of Washington's self-seeking and power games that leave the people out. Tomorrow's John Does are poised to act.

Pres. Clinton must find a way to transform national anger into a rebirth of government by and for the people. Millions of Americans literally do not believe the U.S. has democracy. Clinton talks about reinventing government, " but the people mean it. The economy, health care, the infrastructure--all of the President's fondest hopes will be eclipsed if the programs turn into more bureaucracy with less control over it. He may gain respect for his programs, but he can win the nation's heart if he convinces millions of deeply skeptical, alienated, even frightened Americans that the Federal government is not inherently implacable and can work for the people.

Over the balance of his presidency, Clinton could turn Washington from the number-one target of national resentment into a place of hope, as it was at the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. The best minds in government planning were drawn to Washington; new laws and agencies were created to protect citizens; and the Capitol became the nation's true political center. It was the place to be. Politics was a calling, not a dirty word. Government could change the course of America.

Clinton and Congress now have as large a task. They must find an antidote for anti-Washington fever that has gripped the U.S. for a quarter of a century, since the Vietnam War soured a basic faith in government. Much has been said about the scars of those who fought in and protested the war, but less about millions of Americans' shattered trust in political leaders. No president from Lyndon Johnson on has escaped the people's sadness and anger over leaders who resort to lying, betray promises, and attempt to cover up policy failures.

Clinton has talked about "scaling the wall" of the people's skepticism, "not with our words, but with our...