Oct 31 2007
Political Extremism Slip, Slip, Slipping Away
Maybe it is because we see where endless extremism takes people when we look at the atrocities in Iraq, and maybe we see the zero sum game of political extremism taken to absurd levels in the vacuous results from Comgress, and maybe it is just because we are all tired of the Chicken Little cries of impending historical doom from the far left and far right, but for these and possibly other reasons it seems clear the country is getting tired of the fringes in the country.
Tony Blankley writes about the self destructive nature of ‘my way or I’ll assasinate your reputation” style of conservatives going after conservatives today. It is a good read. We see it happening on both the left and right as the two far opposing extremist camps on the left and right drive for ‘purity’. One of my commentators wrote that KoS called CA Sen Feinstein a rightwing conservative (paraphrasing). Geez, that puts KoS so far left he ain’t in the country anymore.
We see the signs everywhere. Tancredo stepping down presumably because the GOP is not pure enough for his liking. Its everwhere. And its about time this country took this step to get rid of those who go ape over any compromise, any progress because of purity of cause. America is NOT about purity of cause, it is about Democracy and power of the people to decide how things should be. Purity is about a select few determining for the rest of us how things should be.
The purity wars are playing out and it would seem to me political extremism is the one losing – left and right. Want to gain political power in this time period of American history? Open your minds to opportunities, open your minds to new ideas, open your minds to new partnerships, and never close your minds to purity.
Very well said.
We see the signs everywhere. Tancredo stepping down presumably because the GOP is not pure enough for his liking.
AJ,
Please provide the source you cite for this comment.
It’s truely a shame you have to make this stuff up. In 1998 Tom Tancredo pledged to the voters in his district, that if electer he would serve no more than 3 terms. This pledge was broken, more by voters in his district than he. You see, they wanted him to continue, as he had started the immigration caucus, and the people in that district wanted him to continue, so he did.
Right from the begining of his run for the presidency, he did not think he would win. But he thought the Illegal Alien issue was very important, and therefore, ran to bring the issue front and center into the presidential debate. I’d say, it has worked well.
I might also point out that he was, if not the first, one of the first to demand a Secure Border. And he did this prior to 9-11.
His biggest problem is the same as Bob Denver or Adam West. He was typecast. No bigger typecaster of Tancredo than the Strata Sphere. Rather than look at ALL his Views, and ALL his votes in his time in Congress, Aj, and most of the media, choose to ONLY focus on ONE of his views. The choose all on their own to judge the Book By The Cover. But rather than actually looking at him completely, many desire to judge him on ONE issue, and one issue only.
I can’t think of a single poltician that I have judge on one issue. As Ronald Regan said, If you agree with someone 80% of the time, they are your friend.
But you wont even look at the complete man. Can’t read his book, he’s exsteme because he doesn’t hold my view on One issue. Perhaps if you would do so, you just might find he really isn’t so exstreme But there in lies the danger. You just might actually agree with 80% of his book. His Congressional Web Site also has a plethera of info. But please, stay away!
You remind me of a friend of mine. He baught Robert Spencers new book Religion of Peace. He loaned it to me to read first. I gave it back, and he started on it. A few days later, he told me he wasn’t going to finish it. It seems he did not agree with something around page 80. That was it! Can’t even dare to see what might be lurking in page 125!
He did the same thing with one of Rush Limbaughs books years back. Rush stated something to the affect of you don’t need to think, I’ll do it for you! That was it, never read another page after that. I tried to tell him Rush was Joking, no matter though.
I buy all my books at Amazon, so I never really know what I’m getting till I start reading it. And wheather or not I fully agree with every word written, I read them cover to cover. I payed for them, Im damm sure going to get my moneys worth.
Case in point Steven Emersons book American Jihad. I loved it!!….until I got to the last chapter. I just could not understand how, after such careful analysis, he could come to the conclusion he did. But I read it all. You never know, his conclusion may have been something he could have convinced me of. But I would not have known that, had I not finish the book.
But I have complete faith that you and others will continue to label those you don’t agree with as “Far Right” etc. It’s easier than actually examining their views.
By the way, Tom T. was a School Teacher. He got tired of Illegals in ever increasing numbers, comming into the Schools, where, of course, we taugh them in Spanish! He believed, that 1. they should not be there and 2. if they were there, then they need to be taught ENGLISH, and learn in ENGLISH, but that’s an estreme view, I guess.
And he could have run and won again, but chooses to leave as he has acomplished much of what he set out to do.
Open your minds to opportunities, open your minds to new ideas,
PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH REVEREND STRATA!
AJ
After I made the comment about Kos I when back and checked than corrected it with another post because another left blogger was the one who said it no Kos
It was Chuck Dupree at Bad Attitudes who made the remark
Why is it that San Francisco, by any measure among the most progressive constituencies in the country, continues to elect do-nothings like Pelosi, right-wingers like Feinstein, and embarrassments like Lantos?
That correction post was made immediately following the original and it is no longer on the thread where I posted it.
‘purity’
Would you say that Clarence Thomas’s Grandfather was a “Purity” type person in the way he raised Clarence and his brother?
Would you say Clarence himself became a “Purist”?
I’d say he ONLY follows the Constitution, The Federalist Papers, and the Rule of Law. That is “Purity”. He doesn’t interject his Personal Policy Preferences in his decisions.
Under those terms, I’d say you should Hate this man!
Sometimes, when discusing Concervative Ideas and Principles, Purity is very important.
Look at our energy problems, and you can see what dropping your principles gets us. We have more Oil Reserves in this Country than Saudi Arabia. Between ANWAR, Oil off Shore, Oil Shale, etc. we have a boat load of oil, just waiting to be extracted.
But thru the “Moderate” negotiation cycle, mostly due to the Non Pure Moderate Rebulicans, we are not going to go get our own sources of oil.
CORN IS KING!
Yes, instead, we are going to convert every spare colonel of corn into inefficient Ethenol. You will get less mileage, and the same high cost! Whoopie! And it can not be shipped by pipeline like oil, so we will have to truck it around the country. And this is all heavily Government Subsidized.
What has this great plan braught us?
Well, corn is a staple in so many things. Animal Feed is one, so now our MEAT, MILK, And DAIRY Products are far more exensive. Thank You Congress! What Bravery!
Take a look at all the food products you buy, read the ingredients. You will find some derivative of CORN, whether Corn Starch, High Fructose Corn Syrup, etc. is in most food products we buy.
Perhaps if the Republicans had had some “Purity” we would be drilling for oil in those locations today. Let’s say right now we were doing that. Do you think that gas just might be cheaper just because all those Countries that currently supply us would know that in the future we were going to be adding to the market billions of gallons of our own oil? I’d be willing to bet that a price for a barrell of oil would indead be less if we just had the political guts to drill here. Market Forces can work in your favor if you take steps that help it along.
Time to cook. Take Care Folks!
Here, here AJ! Excellent post.
steve:
I would say you are doing a pretty good job of proving AJ’s point for him.
BTW, I am reading Clarence Thomas’s memoirs right now and take it from, Tancredo is no Clarence Thomas.
People want government to work for them, to function, that means that from time to time there has to be some compromise in terms of making policy. That is not the same thing as compromising principles.
As for Tancredo, when he started yammering about nuking Mecca he was obviously trying to appeal to emotionalism. That was what that was about. The problem with that kind of thing is that after awhile people get tired of hearing it.
I also remember Tancredo did not exactly distance himself from the North American Union people which are not all that different from the Truthers. So he earned the description of extreme, he worked for it.
Aj:
I just followed the link and I agree with Blankly. Some of these people really do want to turn that big tent into a put tent.
Steve,
I do have an open mind because I don’t label a group of people based on the actions of a few bad apples amongst them. Americans are illegals too. They speed a lot and put others at risk. Personally that is more of a crime than working without papers.
But I guess it is my experiences in Europe that ‘cloud’ my views. Europeans look down on Americans because of the few bad apples who go over there and do the Ugly American thing. We are viewed through ridiculous and unfair stereotypes.
When I see Americans doing the same thing with our neighbors from the south (and I have been to Argentina and they are more Texan than Spanish) I see the same snobbery being played out.
If you want my respect you avoid group-think and group-stereotypes. They are simply not the right way to view a group of people.