Connect your own dots.

September 2, 2008: Sarah Palin's "First Dude" Todd turns out to have been a registered member of the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party.

November 4, 2008: America laughs in Sarah Palin's crazy wingnut face one last time, and finishes her candidacy off with the GOP "superstar's" approval ratings swirling the bowl.

April 5, 2009: Pittsburgh cop killer Richard Poplawski's best friend Edward Percovic made a special point of telling reporters:

We recently discovered that 30 states had declared sovereignty. One of his concerns was why were these major events in America not being reported to the public.

April 6, 2009: Palin, responding to the North Korean missile test, says:

I am deeply concerned with North Korea’s development and testing program which has clear potential of impacting Alaska, a sovereign state of the United States, with a potentially nuclear armed warhead.

April 9, 2009: Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) holds a press conference in support of state House Concurrent Resolution 50, declaring:

WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment assures that we, the people of the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union of States, now have, and have always had, rights the federal government may not usurp

At the press conference, Perry declares:

We think it’s time to draw the line in the sand and tell Washington that no longer are we going to accept their oppressive hand in the state of Texas. That’s what this press conference, that’s what these Texans are standing up for. There is a point in time where you stand up and say enough is enough, and I think Americans, and Texans especially have reached that point.

April 14, 2009: Crazy Glenn Beck approves:

I have to tell you, you know, I've been a little iffy on Governor Perry because of the way he's handled the border in the past. I didn't think he was real tough on the border, but holy cow. What a statement coming from him on state sovereignty.

And as if to close the circle, April 14, 2009, Crazy Glenn Beck takes the talk back all the way around the loony dial:

So I’m sorry, California, but I don’t want to go down your road. You can’t force me to go down your road. Does the individual have any right anymore? Does the state have any right any more? And I know, because I’ve heard it from all of the conservative – you know, historians and scholars and everything else, but you can’t convince me that the founding fathers wouldn’t allow you to secede.

Finally, Teabagging Day, April 15, 2009 - Crazy Glenn Beck shows just enough leg to get the job done, but still retain what we'll have to call less-than-plausible deniability, by having Greta van Susteren do the dirty deed of saying the word aloud for him. “It almost looks like Texas is looking to secede from the rest of the nation.” And the crowd goes wild:

In several states, I believe it's 23 now, they are passing this in their legislature, which says "You don't have any more rights in the Constitution than those that are outlined, and federal government, you need to back off."

Oh, how coy! By sheer coincidence, Crazy Glenn Beck uses his time in the teabagging spotlight to remind everyone of... exactly what the Pittsburgh cop killer's best friend made a special point of saying when he had the microphones.

Just like the sheer coincidence of Crazy Glenn Beck stumbling into the vampire metaphor, which just happens to be a favorite of the black helicopter crowd.

That boy sure knows how to dog whistle, don't he?

So here's the basic lesson of the teabagging hissy fit. The new Republican "theory" of democracy:

GOP wins: "Mandate! Elections have consequences!"

GOP loses: "Tyranny! Fascism! Revolution! Secession!

Think about that. And think about how they used to tell you with a straight face that when Republicans won, "the adults were back in charge."

Think about that when the Sinn Fein arm (with apologies, I guess, to the actual Sinn Fein) of this Idiot Republican Army arrives back in Washington to plead oh-so-earnestly that they just want "bipartisan compromise."

Think about that when they tell you they demand a say in how we fix health care, rebuild our economy and protect working peoples' rights to build better lives for themselves and their families. While you were working for these changes back home, they were feeding the rump end of their "base" in the hopes that they'd spike any and every deal.

Think about how wise it is to seek "compromise" with vipers who will, the moment they don't get their way, turn and hiss, "Revolution! Secession!"