Recently there's been a series of angry mobs at townhalls designed to promote Obama healthcare (link), and some have devolved into violence. That wasn't difficult to foresee and, while I have no proof, it might have been by design.

But, first of all, if I had my way those who oppose the Democrats health care proposals would have followed through on my two-and-a-half year old question authority plan. If they'd done that, instead of angry rants, the flaws in the Democrats' plan - and the inability of those pushing their plan to plan for contingencies - would have become obvious to millions of people via Youtube and other sites. We could have had a civil debate and raised the level of discourse in the U.S.

Obviously, that didn't square with the game plan. Instead, following the pattern of sending tea bags, the tea parties, a motivational speaker dressed in a powdered wig, and all the other worthless stunts, The Powers That Be decided that encouraging angry mobs was the best option. For instance, Glenn Reynolds encouraged constituents to intimidate politicians back on June 24, saying:

TEA PARTIERS ELSEWHERE TAKE NOTE OF THIS APPROACH: Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) Runs from Constituents. As Jim Geraghty noted, you can make a big impression by showing up in person at things like congressional district meetings.

Then, just a few days ago but before the violence, he said of an angry mob: "Remember, protest is patriotic!"

The other leaders of the supposed opposition to Obama - such as FreedomWorks - haven't exactly encouraged people to engage in high-level debate but instead have stood by or even encouraged angry mobs. It shouldn't be much of a surprise that Obama supporters - such as the Service Employees International Union - have started to show up in order to "make their voices heard". And, Obama and other Democratic leaders have made some questionable or highly questionable comments.

But, it's not that easy to make hay out of what Obama supporters are saying and doing because his opponents' hands aren't that clean. If they'd just been asking intelligent questions and had then been attacked by union thugs, that would be one thing. Instead, they chose to get angry and get in peoples' faces and the other side has responded in kind if in greater degree. Many or most of those attending the townhalls in opposition to the Democrats' plan might indeed be angry, but that isn't an excuse: those who are leading the supposed opposition to Obama need to channel that anger into productive activities.

And, some of all that might have been by design: some of the leaders of the supposed opposition to Obama might have wanted to provoke union thugs into attacking. It's either that, or they were too dumb to figure out what was bound to happen.