It’s hard to tell what’s a spoof and what’s the truth these days. There are some clever people who can make almost anything believable because there’s enough truth in a spoof to make it seem authentic.

The latest is “A CLINICAL ANALYSIS OF ANTI-GOVERNMENT PHOBIA” written by a Dr. Ivor E. Tower and supposedly published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry — a real journal — that’s making the rounds. The good doctor’s name is a red flag that it’s a spoof: Dr. Ivory Tower. Get it?

Even so, this spoof is a witty description of how the Left views the Right. Here’s the first paragraph of the fictional article’s Abstract:

This study conclusively demonstrates that unfounded fear of government is a recognizable mental illness, closely related to paranoid schizophrenia. Anti-Government Phobia (AGP) differs from most mental illnesses, however, in that it is highly infectious and has an acute onset. Symptoms include extreme suspiciousness, conspiracy-mongering, delusional thought patterns, staunch “us against them” mentality, withdrawal from reality, and often religious fanaticism. Having the patient committed to a qualified mental health institution is the best option for family and loved ones. For this reason, all psychiatrists and family physicians should be provided with educational materials which will help them recognize the various symptoms and warning signs accompanying onset. Since comparatively little is known about Anti-Government Phobia at the present time, a government-funded health commission should be set up to oversee, and help focus, future research.

You know that this is exactly how the Left sees the Right. For the Left, Government is a god to be embraced, not a demon to be exorcised. Of course, those of us on the Right of the political spectrum are not anti-government. We believe in self-government, family government, church government, and a decentralized and limited civil government. We believe that all governments should be — must be — limited in their authority and power.

This is why Benjamin Franklin astutely reminded his fellow anti-government compatriots that “In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution.”

Later in the Abstract of the fake article, there’s this gem:

In the eyes of the so-called “patriots,” the relentless drive to indoctrinate others with extremist political beliefs is seen as a righteous and compulsory act to save their “self-destructing” nation. Wildly fantasizing that America can somehow turn back the clock to better times, which in reality never existed, many “patriots” feel obligated to quote constantly from the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the writings of the Founding Fathers. In an ironic twist of fate, when “patriots” expose others to their divisive anti-government propaganda, through their misguided efforts to restore “individual liberty,” they are actually infecting them with an extremely contagious mental illness.

Again, this “spoof” is a spot-on description of the lens that every Liberal looks through when it sees someone on the political Right. So don’t get angry when they froth at the mouth at a reasonable and well articulated response to one of their crazy assertions. They can’t help themselves. They need a new set of political glasses.