We seem to be living (unfortunately) in the Golden Age of political extremism.

On the Left we have the American Marxists proposing confiscatory taxes, governmental supremacy, and punitive censorship meant to improve our lives by impoverishing us, controlling us, and silencing us—none of which seem appealing. On the Right we have the White Supremacists and pitiable Incels gravitating toward personalities like Nick Fuentes and his fellow Groypers, many of whom, in contrast to the perpetually glum foot soldiers of the Antifa Left, seem incapable of surrendering their self-satisfied Frat Boy Smirks. Neither extreme seems capable of offering a practicable and positive vision for our nation, instead choosing to traffic in their own brand of scary paranoia and performative victimization, but this does not tarnish their brands in the eyes of their fanatic followers—sad to say.

What is striking is that each extreme has some grievances that are legitimate and provable, but neither seems all that interested in drilling down to root causes that might undercut their own ideological biases. The Left, for example, is absolutely correct that Black Americans suffer educationally and economically, but they are smugly content to blame never ending racism instead of often absent fathers, public schools in Democrat-run cities that are failure factories, and cultural norms that elevate criminality and misogyny. The Right can persuasively argue that illegal immigration has been an abject disaster that imports poverty and crime, but they fail to recognize that our nation has been enriched beyond measure by generations of legal immigration from all corners of the world because their entrenched racist beliefs cannot admit such a possibility. 

Extremists, of course, typically have gigantic blind spots in their reasoning because the ambiguities and contradictions of the real world dull their self-comforting fervor. This problem is exacerbated by the intellectual isolation now afforded by the impermeable silos of social media and legacy news organizations that are turning us into lab rats that frantically click away for our precious pellets of propaganda, fear mongering, and hatred, which has made reasoned discussion a relatively scarce commodity in our fragmented nation. That being expected to hear and respect differing opinions is now referred to derogatorily as “bothsidesism” is a sign of just how disengaged we have become from the American ideal of debate and discussion.

It does not help, of course, that so many of our truculent leaders have decided that demonizing their political opponents is the best path to gaining and holding power. Moderation today is, as so many elected officials have discovered, a losing strategy when you are seeking the spotlight and chasing the many millions of dollars of donations you need to money-whip your electoral opponents into submission. Although both those on the Left and Right could likely agree that our political system has been corrupted by the campaign cash sloshing around hip-deep in State and Federal Elections, neither side exhibits the least inclination to support reforms that might “disarm” their chosen champions by cutting off the flow of dark money they use to bludgeon those whom they hate. The result of this ideological obstinacy is continuing gridlock, continuing suspicion, and continuing polarization that leaves us short on viable solutions and long on pointless rage.

Which brings us back to the money, which is what makes the political world go round—and screws us all.

The now common suspicion that much of our political turmoil is deliberately manufactured, implanted, and encouraged to distract us proles from the looting of our nation by politicians and their families, sleazy lobbyists, connected corporations, and a long list of grasping insiders is likely correct. Obscene scandals involving improper payments, illegal contributions, and outright bribes are as common as daffodils in the spring these days, and these all stems from the plain fact that government is wonderful feeding trough for greedy, little piggies who are getting rich while we are wasting our lives screeching at one another. I do not mean to dismiss the profundity and importance of the issues that divide us, but we cannot forget that the fat cats are laughing all the way to the bank while we argue—and they like it this way.

The issues that typically divide Americans today—immigration (both legal and illegal), public safety, the dire state of so many of our public schools, welfare payments, the persistence (or not) of a variety of bigotries, the costs of healthcare and housing, gender identity and sexuality (especially as it pertains to children), whether the climate crisis is real or a vast money-making scam, and the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine—are all important and raise strong emotions. Disagreements are both understandable and necessary as we strive to find a workable path forward for our incredible diverse nation. 

However, the howling of the few and the loud does little to provide resolutions for the weary and the many. Insisting on turning government into a tool of pervasive social engineering and indoctrination is guaranteed to raise hackles—while producing radicals—no matter who is pulling the strings, and this is the main reason that extremism on both sides of the aisle is flourishing today. Humans don’t ever react well when they believe they are being treated unfairly (if you don’t believe this is so, hang around a playground and watch children argue endlessly about the “rules” of their games), so deciding to lavish preference on one group or another because they are considered victims of injustice is a prescription for extremism. 

The architects of DEI nonsense are not improving our nation; they are conjuring hatreds with taxpayer money. Because pointing this out is considered a form of intolerance—and threatens the money and jobs of those benefitting from an unwarranted advantage—it is officially discouraged. Even worse, withdrawing the government-sponsored privilege someone enjoys is guaranteed to immediately be mischaracterized as being bigotry or oppression.

Treating us all as Americans with our own unique differences, idiosyncrasies, and abilities instead of sorting us into color-coded boxes is so far from the norm today that the very idea seems unworldly and unworkable to the many racialists in our nation. Proposing a color-blind nation would cause the classroom at any Ivy League college to erupt as students (and their professor) race to point out that White people are angry because their “white privilege” is being taken away—and there might certainly be some truth this assertion. 

However, any discussion of just how prevalent racist attitudes still might be (and whether the reverse racism inherent in quota-driven preference systems was ever an appropriate or ethical remedy for past injustices) cannot proceed because to even have such a conversation is considered a form of bigotry. The messy and counter-intuitive realities of the world we all must live in (for example, I am, despite my abundantly European whiteness, the child of a slave) are lost in a fog of sloganeering, virtue signaling, and ideological blindness. Moreover, those on both sides of any issue simply nurse their grievances in private while moving further from any notion of thoughtful compromise or reasonable remedy because the ideologically obdurate always exist in the shadows—far away from the enlightenment that is only possible if open discussion is encouraged and welcomed.

Are we too far gone already to pull our fellow citizens away from the ragged fringes of radicalism (and will our moneyed puppet masters even allow this to occur) or are we condemned to live in a mobocracy rife with unresolved anger, secret grudges, and the foolish inconsistencies of those who allow only selected facts to intrude upon what they believe are actual thoughts? 

Unfortunately, I am unsure whether this is possible in our current information ecosystem, which often sees its mission as one of blaring advocacy rather than reasoned debate. We might be able to continue to beat back the censors and the scolds while committing ourselves to opening our minds rather than shutting our ears, so the possibility of of reinvigorating our democracy exists if (and this is a big “if”) we can learn to turn away from the flame throwers, the blame seekers, and shame givers whom we elect out of a sense of vengeance or self-interest. In this case it could be possible to escape from the trap of radicalism, although those profiting from our carefully-cultivated hatreds will detest any of our attempts at a national healing and reconciliation.