The real winners and losers are the constituents and causes who did battle on the ground and on the airwaves, and whose lives and livelihoods will be influenced by what happens over the next four years and beyond.

The truth is that the give and take of the legislative process is a much better way to make public policy, especially on complex issues.

Brown's plans to match his big budget cuts with new revenues were already somewhat complicated by heiress Molly Munger's rival income-tax-hike-for-the-schools initiative. But a much bigger threat emerged in dramatic fashion late last week.

This might be the time to face some hard truths. And the hard truth is that inequality is economically as well as socially harmful.