In a recent article, Globe and Mail’s Neil Reynolds expressed his astonishment and perhaps even sadness as regards to the rhetoric that has been employed during the debt ceiling debate in the U.S. After presenting an almost exhaustive list of people in the media who displayed language using the « terrorist » label, he concludes the article by saying that democracy would never have come into existence in the first place with such behavior, calling it « preposterous and shameful ». Although I appreciate the sentiment that he is showing here, I am not sure that it is the proper thing that has to been understood. For me, this language is rather the expression of a « five-minutes-to-midnight » feeling where suddenly, in the face of an impending catastrophy and collapse, people abandon the niceties because there is no point keeping them anymore. A lot of folks in the Tea Party and the Republican Party want the destruction of the United States. One doesn’t need to be an expert to see that. Democrats who used to be skeptics or who didn’t want to face reality now have no longer the choice. One can deny the building is on fire, but once the flames are up to your ass, it’s another pair of sleeves, or pants if you prefer. The rhetoric of the Democrats and liberals, although unusual, is accurate and appropriate for people who start to see things as they are. If Democrats and liberals don’t do something really fast to take back control of this country, it will collapse and Balkanize. What we have to understand here is that because something is cute, it doesn’t make it right necessarily, and on the opposite, because something is repulsive at face value, it doesn’t make it wrong automatically. I think good judgement is always necessary. Democrats are awakening to the impending catastrophy. I just wish it is not too late. As a means of enriching the discussion, I propose John Moore’s analysis of the situation in a recent edition of the National Post. I think that he has a rather fair assessment of right-wing activists, or purits as the calls them, in the U.S.

John Moore on right-wing in the U.S.