Radicals

October 25, 2021

To be fair and balanced, there are radicals in both political parties. These are politicians supported by their followers who believe in a certain vision of America, and are willing to fight to make their vision a reality. I think it is worth discussing what these radicals are all about.

On the progressive left, the radicals believe that the environment is worth fighting for through aggressive legislation designed to mitigate climate change. They believe, as does a majority of the country, that climate change is the existential crisis of our time. They want to offer billions of dollars in incentives to companies who comply with their demands, and want to assess harsh penalties against companies who fail to comply.

On the regressive right, radicals want to fight for safe and secure elections even though there is absolutely no evidence that they weren’t already safe and secure. They want to continue the fight to get the 2020 Presidential election overturned. They are willing to attack the Capitol and hunt down its inhabitants to get what they want. They want to gerrymander Democrats out of existence. They want to make it possible for Republicans to overturn future elections.

On the progressive left, radicals want to rollback recent tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations in order to pay for infrastructure, healthcare, education, and child care. In all four areas, the United States lags well behind most other industrialized countries. The radicals believe that being at least average in these categories is not a radical expectation.

Regressive radicals believe that we should take away a women’s right to choose. They are willing to do whatever it takes to make this a reality. They are willing to steal Supreme Court seats, and fill them with Justices opposed to Roe vs. Wade. They are willing to prevent young women who are raped and impregnated to have an abortion, and threaten to punish anyone who comes to their aid.

In a recent op-ed, E. J. Dionne wrote, “Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, described resistance to reform as representing ‘not true conservatism, but an incitement to the wildest radicalism.’”