History repeats!

I came across this tonight and was stricken by how familiar sounding it seemed:

These revolutions arose from such a wide variety of causes that it is difficult to view them as resulting from a coherent movement or social phenomenon. Numerous changes had been taking place in society throughout the first half of the century. Both liberal reformers and radical politicians were reshaping national governments. Technological change was revolutionizing the life of the working classes. A popular press extended political awareness, and new values and ideas such as popular liberalism, nationalism and socialism began to spring up. A series of economic downturns and crop failures, produced starvation among peasants and the working urban poor.

Well, the peasants aren’t quite starving yet but a lot of the other things mentioned resonate somewhat with recent events, no?

If you think so, go to Wikipedia and look for the Revolutions of 1848.