Tragic insanity on US streets - Vigilantes in Ferguson
It was reminiscent of nothing more than the intervention of the Klu Klux Klan half a century ago when white racists did all in their power to prevent racial integration in the southern states forced to change their ways by an administration in Washington determined to stamp out the old hatreds.
Styling themselves as the Oath Keepers — an American version of the Real IRA presumably, equally deluded and unrepresentative — the individuals carried automatic rifles and side arms and insisted that they were on the streets to protect protestors and media personnel.
No matter how you might admire the US, it is very difficult to imagine how a sophisticated and generally decent society has got itself in such a terrible bind that people can take it upon themselves to try to usurp the rule of law and do so while being protected by the US constitution. That they can parade in public in such an intimidating and divisive way must, or at least should, alarm all Americans.
That Barack Obama’s efforts to confront this insanity were so vehemently opposed and ultimately defeated must remain a mystery to us but it remains a tragedy for that country.
