Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not a conservative (no surprise, I suppose!), but I believe there’s a place for them in our political discourse. We need people who can say to exuberent progressives, “Whoa! Think about the consequences!” In other words, someone who point out things we progressives have overlooked in our rush to improve our nation and the world, things that migh come back and bite us! A case in point is the new bail law in NY state. You know something is wrong with it when cops complain the perps they’re arresting are the same ones over and over again because they’re released almost as soon as they’re arrested. You know something is wrong when a candidate running for governor is attacked, and the attacker’s soon walking free; the Feds stepped in to correct that situation. (Even though Lee Zeldin is a fascist Trumper, he is using the democratic system.) Defunding the police is another travesty. That’s all myopia progressives never expected as a consequence. (Okay, I did. Perps only care about perping, not democracy.)
But the problems lie at the extremes of the political spectrum, don’t they? Other countries extremes trend to left or right of center when it comes to winning elections. Lately we don’t. Extreme consevatives, like most Good Ole Piranhas these days, are fascists (including Lee Zeldin). So are extreme progressives! The political spectrum is a line that curls up at both ends to join in one point, fascism. Venezuela offers us a recent example of the far left becoming fascist; Hungary is a current example of the far right doing so. (It might be followed by other countries soon.) Hungary’s also the US’s story too, driven to fascism by fanatics, a process justified by extreme far-right white Southern Baptists and radical Catholics who claim it’s all God’s will. The fascist base of the Good Ole Piranhas is a festering tumor that will destroy democracy in America. Democracy’s death here won’t be gentle either. January 6 proved that.
It’s true that we need to have logical and reasonable discourse in American politics. That can’t occur when we take things to the extreme. We also need compromise if we want to avoid anarchy and chaos. Real compromise, not fanatic minorities beating the majorities into submission. We no longer have any otf that. It all happened once before and led to the Civil War. It could happen again.