Political Extremism In the United States

     You can't turn on the news in modern America without being hyper=saturated in politics. Even our entertainment media can't steer away from the American political scene long enough to talk about a subject that hasn't been beaten into the ground and turned into a cliché.

   

       I have paid attention to politics for most of my life. I have changed viewpoints over the years and shifted more to a spiritual/philosophical/existential focus of my readings and conversations. I've been described by some of my friends as a relatively moderate, centrist guy, which may surprise some people, given my past political affiliations.

  

     Being in the middle of the road has its perks, but it also has its downsides.  There is a stigma against fence-walkers and it's not always the most comfortable place to be. You can end up being friends with everyone and being a bridge builder, or everyone ends up hating you for not taking a side. 

     I can tell you one thing, I am definitely not a political extremist. Extremism and the violence that comes with it are antithetical to my nature and antithetical to my objectives in this society.  Extremism and polarization rips countries in half, and serves to be more of a destructive force and a fuel for the hatred that leads to war more than anything. 

        Whether left or right or somewhere else on the complex political spectrum, extremism and antagonism on a large scale serves to be one of the most destructive forces a nation can face, and unmitigated domestic political extremism can become a serious threat to national security quite quickly. It destabilizes the very foundations of society. 

      I always view that differences can be settled in other ways besides bullets and bombs, but I'm sure not everyone agrees with me. Humans have a combative, fighting instinct that many of us have a hard time satisfying. Many of us often need something to fight. Some people need to have an enemy. It's almost biological. A part of our specie's competitive and predatory nature. 

       From my view, I feel most Americans are fairly simple people. They just want to feed their families, go watch their kids play sports on the weekends, try to take care of their own, and be productive members of a society. Most people aren't going to go out and blow up a government building or commit acts of violence because they don't like the current leadership or the current state of affairs in the country.

  There are some people, however, who are more than willing to do this. Extremism in any democracy or republic can only be contained and controlled by a healthy, strong (and relatively armed) moderate majority that can contend with the violent and unpleasant tendencies of the extreme ends of the political spectrum. If this equilibrium between moderation and extremism gets out of balance and the extremists start consolidating a broader power base and a larger number of supporters, that equilibrium gives way to violence that can become widespread if unchecked.  

     This can happen both on the left or the right, and we've already seen conflict in the streets of major cities between ideological extremists of the left and  the right.  Another difficult thing our society is going to have to contend with is that a foreign adversary can fuel this internal schism and fan its flames. It could also reap the political and economic benefit of a destabilized United States. It's a reality we have already been facing, as some of the players on the world stage see reducing U.S. presence and influence as economically and strategically advantageous to them. 

One of the ways to do this is to fuel already existing political tensions, whether they be race, class, or other wedges, and fuel America's extremist problem and cause strife and discord within the country to destabilize it.  

   Extremism, when uncontained, is often the death of freedom and democracy, whether it be because of the wars it can cause or because of the authoritarian tendencies of one end of the spectrum once it consolidates power and takes over the system. 

If you want to sustain freedom in any system, you need a strong moderate majority made up of reasonable people with means to exert power and influence in society. If the system shifts too far left, or too far right, authoritarianism and oppression don't follow too far behind. 

 Liberty can't survive without a check on the extremes.