Much as most Americans prefer politics as entertainment, or at most as an informal seminar, the reality is that the politics of thuggery -- especially as practiced by the GOP -- is anything but academic. The racism, xenophobia, and homophobia exhorted by Republican leadership from Reagan to the present, has had homicidal consequences.

Add to that volatile mixture the expressly violent religious milieu of Vice Presidential candidate Palin, and street-level violence is a matter of when, not if.

These right-wing thugs cannot be reasoned with, but they can be defeated. Like their Wise Use compatriots, they seize political power at the local level and leverage themselves up from there. Sometimes they get a helping hand, as when the GOP mainstreamed the white supremacist militias in 1995 and again in 2005, but most of their success is due to persistent organizing and malicious harassment.

Granted, liberals are the last ones willing to confront such a hostile milieu, but the fact of the matter is that political violence, even when violating civil rights or committing assault, is rarely prosecuted by law enforcement. The only way to settle the hash of these hoodlums is to do research on the local ringleaders, educate others, and organize a community action to rein them in.

Anything short of that will fail.