I'LL BET BTK VOTES REPUBLICAN

The case of Dennis Rader, the alleged BTK killer, is creepy on several levels. But this article today in the NY Times centers on what bothers me most: the fact that he was a stickler for rules, all rules, any rules, and woe to anyone subject to his "reign of terror" as a compliance officer. Righteous, churchgoing man that he was, he nonetheless had a little hobby of torturing and strangling to death the occasional neighbor.

It's always seemed to me that a little rebellion against and laxity about "the rules" is a sign of good mental and emotional health. We're human beings, after all, endowed with a will of our own, and we like to establish our own boundaries and make our own choices within reason. I've always thought an obsession with enforcing "the rules" has usually been evidence of a poor self-image, an innate streak of cruelty, or both. It's a totalitarian kind of hall-monitor mindset that loves to flaunt its authority.

You see where I'm going with this. In my book, Repug leaders like Tom Delay and Denny Hastert, with their bullying tactics and disdain for the common people, are in that class of undesirables. They can't keep their noses out of other people's bedrooms and living rooms. They want to dictate what we can read, hear and watch. They think the U.S.A. has a right to intimidate, invade, or otherwise push around other sovereign nations. They have little or no compassion for the weak or failed, unless you're one of their own inner circle. The ex-drug addict can't get a job, but the "born again" Republican politico can be forgiven anything. Like BTK, they creep me out. And I just don't see why more Americans don't feel the same.