I am prepared to defend to the last semi-colon the right of people to articulate right-wing views, but not if they come out with complete tosh in the process. The US presidential election is providing...well, plenty of tosh. Take Joyce Kauffman, a Miami radio 'host' who is so much against Obama that she can envisage the need for special action if the votes don't deliver.
To quote her at a recent rally: 'The most important thing the Founding Fathers did to ensure me my First Amendment rights, was they gave me a Second Amendment. And if ballots don't work, bullets will.' (Whoops, cheers etc). 'If the majority of Americans want us to become a Socialist nation then I have a choice: I can live here or not. Because if people are educated about what happens in most nations when they embrace this nanny-state, this Socialist doctrine...it's not good. It's not better for the country. Most people want to come to America. I don't see them getting on rafts to go to Russia or China...'
Hang on a second. Russia... China...Socialist nanny-states? Did she say, 'if people are educated...?' When did she last compare the welfare provision of Russia or China with America's?