Political Extremism Detracting from the Cause

In your opinion, do political extremists for either major party (Democrats or Republican) detract from their message by some of the tactics they employ?

Please post examples of acceptable or unacceptable behavior you've encountered.

 

A lot of Democrats are pretty stupid, and a lot of Republicans are blind and deaf to reality, but I won't vote on the acceptability, as it is just unavoidable. Extremists on both sides will always exist. Most of them don't know they are extremist, they just think they are 'right'.

 

Well, I dont like it but its acceptable in a free socierty...I cant stand Rush, Michael Moore, Ann Coulter, and the like...they are simply attention *****s that use dishonesty and hyperbole and are only in existance to cause partisan strife and make sure there is no unity and get paid to do so, their bank accounts rely on it...but it is their right to be as they are. Obviously there are people who agree with them and buy their books...

 

Actually, I believe extreme views are important to the political process and our culture in general as long as they don't become to powerful. Groups of extremists pull the center to the Left or to the Right by presenting an alternative to the steady as she goes middle of the road masses. Extremists drive cultural change once their raw ideas have been polished and accepted by the mainstream. You can see this in such cultural phenomena as the early surfing culture, 60's Hippie culture, Rap music, skateboard culture, and countless other counter-cultural lifestyles that are now acceptable. All these things once scared the mainstream but are as acceptable as apple pie now days.

I think what your question was mainly looking at though, was political extemism which is just another facet of our overall culture but plays by the same rules as any cultural upheaval. If we were to let any extremist view dominate in the political arena, we would suffer greatly as a nation. The most recent example of political extremism is the Evangelical movement that has influenced our government in just about every way possible. The "Religification" of once secular areas of government is an extreme proversion of the political system that will have to be corrected if we are to move back towards the center. Extremists on the Right will not be happy with this pullback and will see it as a defeat but the influence that will carry on from this movement will be felt for years to come. People on the Left may even see this as a victory over the Right without ever seeing the remnants that remain in the system.

To sum it all up, extreme views and alternative lifestyle movements push our culture along and advance the whole country forwards. I think that we need to recognize the extreme views when they emerge and be careful not to see them as a panacea but rather a nudge in one direction or the other. This whole process has been made much more murky by the divisiveness that our political leaders have fomented over the last couple of elections. Merely to lean in one direction or the other labels you as an extremist these days. We have blue states and red states, with us or against us statements, support our troops or aid the enemy thinking, that pits us against each other and hides the fact that the vast majority of us are actually smack dab in the center not out on the fringes. After a steady Right blowing wind, the seas are calm and a shift in wind direction is beginning to be felt by the flag at the top of the mast. How violent the wind eventually becomes, is up to all of us but no storm lasts forever without sinking the boat.

 

Most political progress comes from the extremes. The movements to implement child labor laws, workplace safety rules, eight hour workdays, minimum wage, etc... were once considered extreme. The center is, by definition, intellectually dead.

 

The extreme element with any power right now is the left. Even republicans complain that there own party has gone that way and may still be more conservative then the democrat party but still no way can it currently be considered conservative never mind far right. Right now we have moderates who sway left and leftists who sway off the charts as our political force. With both parties ignoring citizens calling for a strong war on terror, closed borders, More money spent on Americans less on illegals, that Iraq fund the war itself,That we protect our well paying industries, etc..

As for any attacks on the center, a strong center is needed to weigh what is needed for the times that is coming out of the extremist sides of both parties when that extreme exisits. The extremes may or may not be creative but the center is always the cognitive.

 

The patriot act was extremism, as was the demo of WTC 1,2 and 7

 

When wishy washy centrism has the net effect of neutering the country it is up do the wingers to come out screaming with guns or tiedyes, as the case may be, waving. Screams of kill that or save the blanks help energize the fence sitters with an electric current. The US has always been a partisan politics country. Its just the fact that we practice it in a democratic fashion of a republic that keeps us seperated from the animals in other countries around the world.