Playing footsie with treason

Mother Jones

When people in positions of great power play footsie with those who advocate treason—or claim that the elected commander in chief is a bastard foreigner with no claim to the office—they are not just engaging in a lively debate. They are actively negating a fundamental principle of American politics: that the government, no matter how much you might disagree with its representatives, is of, by, and for the people.

Indeed, to a growing number of celebrity conservatives, this administration is no longer simply an adversary with whom you cross swords—it is an enemy you must destroy. In a paranoid culture, as Hofstadter recognized, the enemy is "thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable [and] must be totally eliminated." A government as villainous as the one portrayed on sites like WND (WorldNetDaily) cannot be debated or negotiated with, or even accorded the most basic respect. It must be vanquished.