This will be a relatively short diary, but I couldn't pass up sharing what James Zogby wrote on the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Before dashing off to celebrate a hard fought victory in achieving health care reform, it is important to reflect on a deeply disturbing aspect of the debate that I believe spells danger ahead.
A Republican talking point repeated ad nauseam during yesterday's debate pounded on the theme that they, and they alone, had the right to speak for "the will of the American people." This took different forms: "the American people have spoken," or "you (Democrats) are ignoring/imposing your views on the American people" or "the American people have sent a message," etc. All making the same point -- that the GOP speaks for the American people.
More after the fold...
Of course, the American people have spoken, and in November 2008 elected a Democratic White House and Senate and House of Representatives. But, elections and the workings of our democracy including the idea that the losing party respect the outcome of elections appear to be alien concepts to today's GOP.
The idea that the minority party represents the "will of the people" (not some of the people, but "the people") is the seedling of a totalitarian mindset. In this mindset -- democracy doesn't matter, ideas are not to be discussed, and opposing views are not to respected. What matters is that they alone have truth, they alone are metaphysically connected to the "mind of the people" can interpret their will, and because they have truth and speak for the people, others represent a threat and must be silenced and stopped.
OK, I'm not quoting the entire article - help James Zogby and Huffington Post make a living by clicking on the link and reading the whole thing there.
But Zogby does make a powerful point about how the GOP thinks - even though they are in the minority, as shown by them losing elections in 2006 & 2008, they seem to think that they still have the right to speak for all of us, and worse, to force their ideas upon us - if they don't speak with our voice, they'll make it so we speak with their voice, by any means necessary...
That is what is truly behind the spate of right-wing terrorism we've seen this week.
It's also what folks like John Dean and Bob Altemeyer warn about when they discuss Right Wing Authoritarianism. You can read Bob Altemeyer's The Authoritarians to see some of the psychological underpinnings of the GOP and the Tea Party phenomenon.