COURTESY OF THE LEFT, A LITTLE BIT OF MORDOR COMES TO AMERICA. “All the ruffians do what he says; and what he says is mostly: hack, burn, and ruin; and now it’s come to killing. There’s no longer even any bad sense in it. They cut down trees and let ’em lie, they burn houses and build no more.”

Plus: “Why should we have statues at all? they proclaim. In this they are hitting rather closer to the spirit of Mordor: That a people should love their homeland is itself contemptible. It stands against the ruffians’ will to rule us. The ruffians slash and burn not because they love something, but because we do.”

Why should we have ruffians un-hanged? Because of the remains of the civil society they are trying to destroy, and for no other reason.