I understand the fear but it's important to understand just who these people are and from whence they've sprung. They are, in effect, the reactionary political legacy of the traitors of the Confederacy. They don't all need to be from the south of course. There were plenty of northerners who sympathized and those of the treasonous mindset can be found in every section of the country. The paranoid frenzy we are seeing now is a separate, but related issue with respect to race.

The extremist right wing of American politics manifested itself from the beginning arm in arm with the cause of slavery. It has since morphed from slavery into anti-unionism and unrestrained corporate power, etc... These people have historically resorted to this sort of rhetoric and they have historically fantasized openly about insurrection, treason, etc... whenever they believe that they are losing power or control. Despite Obama's timid and restrained efforts to rescue the economy the right wing freakazoids, no longer in power are experiencing the political equivalent of delirium tremens as they have done before.

Right wing extremists who detested FDR and the New Deal plotted the overthrow of Roosevelt and had their plot exposed by Gen. Smedley Butler who they had approached to lead the coup. The people who cleave to this political philosophy of the fascistic supremacy of predatory wealth are in a constant state of readiness and are always preparing for a putsch. They are dangerous people no doubt, and they seem never to lack for money, but the one thing they never count on is that the people are not with them, not even close. They represent a smaller segment of the population today than they have in probably the last 100 years. Nor, it is important to add, is the military in any significant way in sympathy with them or their goals.

Elements of the military industrial complex feared and hated JFK too and both publicly and behind the scenes did all they could to undermine his presidency. Some think they arranged or participated in his murder. Nobody knows the truth on that since the Warren Commission chose to hide whatever the actual truth is. But we do know that there were officers, both active military and retired, prepared to commit treason in the name of reactionary, fascistic goals at that time.

The very same element attempted what amounted to a bloodless coup against Clinton. Has anyone ever seen a less legitimate assault on a sitting President in our history than the now infamous blowjob driven spaz attack we all witnessed in the 90's?

Given the history of this faction over the centuries, can anyone be at all surprised that they once again cannot restrain themselves when the first black President takes office? Ever since it became clear Obama would be the Democratic nominee these people have been doing one Linda Blair performance after another. And every time they see that their histrionics have failed (as the recent NYT/CBS poll demonstrated on healthcare) it's like spritzing holy water on the possessed girl right down to the foul mouthed howling and extreme efforts to intimidate and frighten.

I have faith that while there are reactionary elements in the military, the vast majority of the men and women in the officer corps are loyal to the United States Constitution and to the law. They neither agree with nor are they willing to support a putsch, a coup, or any other illegal treasonous move against the government in general or the President in particular. Further, I believe there are millions upon millions of ordinary Americans who will not sit idly by if any such effort were attempted. What needs to be done is to draw this element out into the open and let them identify themselves clearly so they can be put down as they should be.