Breaking Glass, Threatening Children - Right Wing Cowards Masquerading as Patriots

Now that sweeping health care reform is on the verge of becoming law, the slimy underbelly of America is once again flailing about, like it has at every step forward we as a people have managed to take.

The loud-mouthed thugs out breaking windows and threatening the children of House members who voted for health care come from a long and storied line. They want you to believe their kinship is with America's founders, and on the side of freedom and liberty.

In truth, they are just another incarnation of ill-informed mob. They share their history with those who wore white sheets over their heads, brown shirts on their backs, or black face masks to steal through the night in death squads.

Their love of liberty only means the liberty to be like them, or to not be so different as to be "distasteful."

For some, their "line in the sand' is if you support women's reproductive rights. For others, it's homosexual issues. Maybe you are a minority religion - or gasp - an atheist.

Sure, some will say they are just fine with you living your life, just leave them alone. But when the rubber meets the road, when the issues are debated, it's a return to hate and fear and misinformation.

Many of them claim it's gun rights, although courts (and President Obama) have recently expanded gun rights, not retracted them. So that one is the proverbial Red Herring.

The religious imagery and violence intermingle, leaving little doubt to the followers just what the suggestive undertone is. It's no accident that on Sarah Palin's facebook page out to "take back the 20" shows a map with the cross- hairs of a rifle scope pointing to districts of targeted House members. Sure, it's innocent enough on the surface, but it supports the mythology of the far right being warrior patriots for God and country.

Can anyone say, if our situation were similar to parts of Central America in the 80s, we wouldn't have right wing death squads? If our society fell apart to the extent of Iraq, we wouldn't have car bombs and terror? There are some in America who relish the thought of being able to shoot at liberals, or gays, or those of color.

Thankfully, their numbers decrease with each manifestation. Like nuclear material, hate and fear and prejudice have half-lives. Trouble is, they are long - it may take a few more generations. But with the passage of time, more of them fade away then replacement numbers can match.

Theirs is alleged ties to patriots of the past hiding a desire for mayhem and thuggery. Ours is the future, eventually. And they know it, that's a factor in their vehement hatred of all deemed liberal progressive, or good for average people.

Is it a broad brush to say everyone involved with far right groups fits these descriptions? Of course, but that doesn't let the more reasonable people off the hook. They need to not only speak out against violence, they should step away from groups and movements supporting it, even suggestively.