IF HUEY Long, the former governor of Louisiana, were alive today, he would be seething. He would be fuming, livid and downright hip-hopping mad.

And the American people would be mad, too.

"Why, those Leona Helmsleys and Donald Trumps and Neil Bushes--they think they can just throw their million around and not pay any taxes," he would say.

"Those rascals in Washington, they think they can abuse the public trust and use their offices for personal gain instead of the public good."

Huey wouldn't stand for it.

Huey wouldn't let the President and Congress get away with letting the government screech to a halt because they can't get serious about budget reform. He wouldn't let the budget pass without a tax increase for the wealthy. Huey would demand a greater redistribution of wealth; Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-III.) would get his budget plan passed immediately if Huey were still around.

We need another Huey Long today.

GOVERNOR of Louisiana from 1928-1932, and U.S. Senator from 1932 until his death in 1935, Huey P. Long was one of America's great advocates for the average citizen. On a local and national level, he railed against corrupt big-business interests, monopolists and financiers. Huey recognized that the concentration of wealth in the hands of the Morgans and Rockefellers resulted in excessive power and influence for these families.

His "Share Our Wealth" plan struck a respondent chord among millions of Americans who despaired of finding work during the Depression. The plan placed a cap on personal fortunes and limited personal income to $1 million per year. Anything over that would be taxed at a rate of 100 percent.

Sounding on themes of economic inequality on the radio and in his own newspaper, Long tapped a deep well of resentment in the American people and gained a national following. A secret opinion poll taken by the Democratic National Committee in the spring of 1935 predicted that Huey Long would gain 11 percent of the vote if he were to run in the 1936 Presidential election.

ADMITTEDLY, Huey wasn't strong on sophisticated economic theory. But he had the right idea--using progressive taxation to ensure a basic standard of living for the poor and powerless (an idea that has since fallen into undeserved disrepute). We need the Louisiana governor to help us regain a moral perspective on the budget crisis.

The only reason President Bush can stare straight at the TV cameras and say, "Read my hips," is that there is no strong leader to galvanize public support for an equitable budget resolution.

Huey Long would be that leader.

Long's redistributionary rhetoric, of course, is much more radical than anything you hear in Washington these days. Proposals for a 10 percent surtax on people with incomes of over $1 million (currently in Rostenkowski's budget plan) or a 50 percent marginal tax on unsaved income over $100,000 are more politically viable (not to mention economically feasible) than Long's ideas.

When the budget options are a large tax increase on the wealthy, a slight increase and no increase at all, the slight increase--as proposed by the House Democrats--becomes a logical compromise. Long's extremism would be perfect for supporters of the Rostenkowski plan.