No Hard Right Anywhere in US
Sure, we hear about the “Far Right” now and then in Europe, and a Far Left party recently won in Greece, but there’s nothing like it in America, it seems. Conservatives and liberals in the US are apparently all moderates theses days. The post “South Dakota Has No Hard Right” made this clear.
Even being gay, lesbian, and transgender is one of the many civil rights, along with voter suffrage and racial equality. The Constitution says so, and a handful of unelected judges now impose their personal interpretations on the voting populace. But what if a time machine could whisk us back to the streets of Colonial America to get at the intentions of Founding Fathers then? Have we forgotten our revolutionary heritage?
The term “radicalized” these days is associated with political and religious extremists who take things so seriously that being willing to die for one’s beliefs is welcomed. Fortunately, conservatives and liberals in the US are mostly moderates whose middle-class ethics don’t allow causing any kind of scene. Polite electoral politics are the order of the day, and civic-minded letters to the editor are generally well-received.
Those who take their politics and religions “too seriously” can be found in Muslim communities in Europe (and, of course, elsewhere on the globe). They have become “radicalized” in mosques. They are told to confront gays and other abominations to their deeply-rooted religious principles. They are told to challenge those who insult their religion—and to become martyrs in defense of their faith if necessary.
Actually, the only place in the US where people are “radicalized” can be found in prisons. A recent Associated Press article reported that ISIS-like executions of sex offenders are becoming common in California prisons. You rape women or molest children, you’ll be executed.
The AP article points out that even rehabilitation-hungry states like Massachusetts “had a high-profile inmate homicide in 2003, when John Geoghan, a former Roman Catholic priest whose sexual abuse conviction sparked a widespread abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, was killed by a fellow inmate who claimed he was chosen by God to kill pedophiles.”
OK, so now all those whose principles are more than mealy-mouthed and tolerant of everything are safely labeled as extremists on the fringe. Freedom of expression doesn’t include anything on the political Right (as in Europe). Any extremist who goes beyond mere words we can call a “terrorist.” Most people just want to lead quiet lives with their televisions and other amusements.
