Reply #19: It was always so. [View All]

[TayTay]

The left-right spectrum has always been composed of extremists on the ends of both sides. These extremists provide pressure on the rest of the curve moving the debate. Things mediate toward the center and the worst of both left & right extremism gets filtered out.

Don't you see this happening now? Tom Delay, Bill Frist and the religious right have pushed the argument on 'Right to Life' to an extremist position. The national polls have shown that this is overwhelmingly unpopular with the American people. The Terry Schiavo case is an instance of the right wing over-reaching. Their arguments that the judiciary is out of control and careering toward replacing the intent of the voters and the will of Congress is not catching on. They will, nevertheless, use this as a major reason why the filibuster in the Senate has to be eliminated when it comes to Judaical appointments. This may just backfire. The Dems have been handed a powerful weapon with which to beat back this assault on the traditions of the Senate. This should prove most interesting.

The Lefty extremists have also always over-reached. (It's what extremists do.) There arguments are so anti-US that they appear to be nearly seditious in nature. But they generate no 'buzz' in American political circles. (They are excellent at generating annoyance, but that doesn't count.) Your post actually proof of this. Your own Dad has them down as a caricature. The right wing media machine is almost irrelevant to this. They are masters of distortion. They take things that are accurate and informed and twist them so that they are no longer either. I do not fear giving them ammunition. They will do what they do regardless of what I think. They are beyond logic and appeals to reason.

We have always had lefty extremists. (Emma Goldman anybody?) We have always had doves who object to American use of the military in nearly all cases whatsoever. (There were pacifists in World War I and World War II.) The Republic survives. If their ideas have any merit then they will bubble up. If not, they will end up talking to the equivalent of a wall of mirrors.