Democracy or mob rule? The far right freak show rolls on.

[steven johnson]

The ultra-conservative freak show at town halls are promoted by FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Limited Government and Right Principles, along with the Republican Tea Party operatives.

This politics of screaming slogans and thuggish intimidation has been part of the GOP playbook for a long time. They even eat their own. Yum, yum. Now their paranoia and suppression of others right to free speech is on display for all to gag at.

ames Madison, writing in support of the Constitution in The Federalist, No. X, warned against the "violence of faction" that particularly threatens popular government.
By faction, he meant citizens "whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens or the permanent and aggregate interests of the community."
Those cautionary words are particularly apt as the Congress adjourns for its August break and senators and representatives head to their states and districts to meet with their constituents. They are heading into what their opponents are hoping to build into a whirlwind.
Far right and conservative groups, some in association with the GOP, are staging campaigns to overwhelm town hall meetings and seize control of them. So far, they have succeeded in shouting down and otherwise disrupting several gatherings.


Democracy or mob rule?