When I see the hand-wringing over the rise of Italian politician Beppe Grillo, I can't help but think of a man complaining about cigarette smoke while his own derriere is on fire. Oh, don't get me wrong, Grillo is a wacko, for sure. I can't even take issue with the claim that he's a wicked wacko. But I also know this: one thing he isn't is a wacko without company.

As to the hand-wringing, I'm specifically referring to the recent articles coauthored by writer James Lewis and Justine Aristea. Now, I'll preface my remarks by saying that, based on what I know of Mr. Lewis, I've no reason to have anything but the utmost respect for him. Yet his last title, "Dangerous Times: Is Italy teetering?" evokes a certain immediate response in me:

Why wouldn't it be?

All of the West is teetering.

In Mr. Lewis' most recent offering, he and his co-author wrote, "Grillo is one scary guy. ...According to Grillo, AIDS doesn't exist, vaccines will kill you, and the Holocaust never happened." Without a doubt, these are views ranging from wacky to wicked. But let's talk about that.

Just recently there was a story about how the Toronto School Board is promoting a curriculum encouraging kindergarteners to cross-dress. For the uninitiated, this is designed to free them from being "stereotyped" as a boy or girl and to encourage these children -- who are thoroughly malleable, as little babes always are -- to explore whether or not they're a member of the opposite sex "trapped in the wrong body." Lest you think this an anomaly, know that all over the West children as young as five are being diagnosed with "Gender Identity Disorder" and allowed to attend school dressed as an opposite-sex child. Then the rest of the students sometimes undergo "sensitivity training" so they can come to accept this perversion as normal, and we have arguments about what bathrooms these birls and goys should be allowed to use. In the same vein, Phoenix, AZ has just decided to allow any man who thinks he really, you know, deep down, is a woman to use ladies' public restrooms. I imagine this is quite scary to the ladies out there, however many are left in a civilization that does things such as encourage girls to wrestle with boys in high-school sports (the first birl-goy matchup should be interesting). But that's just masculinization and emasculation, which are so yesterday. Now we've moved on to do what thou wilt shall be the whole of your sexual identity.

By the way, I don't know if Beppe Grillo advocates any of these things. But I haven't heard that he does.

And his political alliances may preclude it. After all, Grillo is accused of pandering to Muslim jihadists, a group that might also find the developments mentioned above scary (don't scoff; even a broken clock will be right twice a day -- especially about another broken clock). But what does such pandering do other than undermine Grillo's claim that he's a true political outsider?

That is to say, if Western pseudo-elites bent over backwards any further to Muslim influence, they'd be bowing toward Mecca. Most of the West is now infamous for "hate speech" laws used to imprison those with the temerity to speak out against Islam, and ham-handed Western officials have defined a new hate crime: the use of an assault ham. Although it seems that not all Muslims are averse to touching the unclean food, at least not when there's the chance to tear it from Christian students' hands and throw it away.

One area where Grillo does distinguish himself is in his anti-Jewish feelings -- in that he's honest about them. Other Western politicians simply tell Jews they should leave Europe because, well, hells bells, those new Muslim immigrants just don't want you there. More subtle still is Barack Obama, with his passive-aggressive Israel policy.

Speaking of Mr. Scary himself, I don't know if Brillo would appoint communists to office, but our abrasive irritant sure did. There was former communications director Anita Dunn, who called Mao one of her "two favorite philosophers"; and ex-"green czar" Van Jones, whose favorite communist seemed to be himself.

Of those who aren't quite so forthcoming, there is Obama's "science czar" John Holdren, who coauthored a book that suggested forced abortion, mass sterilization, and a "Planetary Regime" that could orchestrate population control. Former "regulatory czar" Cass Sunstein has said that hunting should be banned and animals allowed to file lawsuits; chief diversity officer at the FCC Mark Lloyd has scoffed at freedom of speech and said that there are too many whites in the media; former assistant deputy secretary at the Department of Education Kevin Jennings is a radical homosexual activist who has promoted "fisting" for 14-year-olds; ex-director of the Office of Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner was hand-picked as a "leader" by the worldwide association Socialist International; Energy Secretary Steven Chu once said that he wanted to boost gasoline prices to $8 a gallon; and Attorney General Eric Holder reportedly carried a card in his wallet stating "Blackness is more important than anything, and the black US attorney has common cause with the black criminal." Of course, Obama himself seemed to have common cause with white criminals who suggested that it may be necessary to kill 25 million Americans to further the communist program. Also note that Obama appears to have been a member of the socialist New Party in the 1990s, an association met by crickets in the media.

Scary? Wacky? Wicked? How many Western effete elites aren't described by these adjectives?

The fact is that the Western world is teetering -- and tottering and doddering. And within the context of this distressing reality, should we really worry that Italians may choose a different species of wacko than what's de rigueur? We may as well say that Mario has some nerve killing himself with a gun.

He should drink the hemlock as we do.

To reiterate, this is no defense of Grillo. My attitude toward his set and the jihadists -- both the Muslim and the secular-liberal variety -- is to wish a pox on all their houses. But there is another factor. You see, I know where liberalism comes from. And I know where it goes to. Unless something upsets the West's apple cart of movement toward a cradle-to-grave nanny state, we'll end up prey to a grave-filling death state. Thus, I welcome most any division, be it the Catalans in Spain, the secessionists in the U.S., the Scottish in the UK -- or maybe even the Grillini. For if we can't be united in Truth, being so under international socialism is no more appealing than under national socialism.

Now if we could only find a way to get the Muslims, secular liberals, and neo-fascists to destroy each other, we'd be in business.

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