You will almost never see an article as blatantly authoritarian as this column by Stu Bykofsky in the Philly Daily News:

One month from The Anniversary, I’m thinking another 9/11 would help America.

What kind of a sick bastard would write such a thing?

A bastard so sick of how splintered we are politically – thanks mainly to our ineptitude in Iraq – that we have forgotten who the enemy is.

It is not Bush and it is not Hillary and it is not Daily Kos or Bill O’Reilly or Giuliani or Barack. It is global terrorists who use Islam to justify their hideous sins, including blowing up women and children.

Iraq has fractured the U.S. into jigsaw pieces of competing interests that encourage our enemies. We are deeply divided and division is weakness…

America’s fabric is pulling apart like a cheap sweater.

What would sew us back together?

Another 9/11 attack…

If it is to be, then let it be. It will take another attack on the homeland to quell the chattering of chipmunks and to restore America’s righteous rage and singular purpose to prevail.

In his mind, apparently, thousands of Americans must die so that we’ll stop disagreeing with each other. Why does Stu hate democracy?

PS If this sounds familiar, remember that Bykofsky’s employer ran the ugliest post-9/11 editorial — here’s what we wrote about it at Spinsanity:

The words of the News were easily the most chilling for those who believe logic and rational argument are important in politics, as its argument came down to one simple statement: “[W]e will remember your actions, and crave only one thing: blood for blood.”

The News never identifies who the “you” in this sentence is, however, because we don’t yet know, but it does prime its readers for bloodthirsty vengeance: “REVENGE. Hold on to that thought. Go to bed thinking it. Wake up chanting it. Because nothing less than revenge is called for today.” These words border on the authoritarian and the savage. Many Americans support a strong military response, of course, but The News’s rhetoric encourages bloodlust rather than carefully reasoned action.