On my last blog, as promised, I was going to take this time to respond to the Op/Ed writer for the Denver Post, Steve Lipsher’s, excellent article entitled Patriots or scoundrels?, which was written On June 30, 2013.

What Lipsher’s Op/Ed piece reveals is how prevalent politically tinged catchy phrases, simple minded and half-baked solutions are made in an effort to imply that what’s said captures the essence of what needs to be done to get our country back on the “right” track again. Consistent with what Lipsher said in his blog, where he captured political extremism at its worse, that’s the kind of extremism that political talk-show hosts exhibit daily.

In my first published political book entitled: The Impotent Giant: How to Reclaim the Moral High Ground of America’s Politics I devote a whole chapter called, THE PROBLEM WITH EXTREMISM.

John W. Gardner, the architect of Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society,” said, “Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world’s ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.”

This quote captures the essence of what political extremism is about. It demonstrates that those who embrace extremism do so because they are motivated and willing to pursue narrow policy, without regard to

nuances, consequences, or representation.

Extremism is very closely akin to terrorist movements, theocratic governments, cults, and radical fringe groups. That is true if we define “extreme” as meaning “farthest removed from the ordinary or average.” It’s safe to say that most Americans would be appalled at the idea of our government being equated to terrorist groups or a rigid theocratic regime – yet, considering how moderation is being drowned out by those groups who embrace more strident and extreme positions, eventually our government could adopt those positions that are antithetical to the people’s interests.

This may be particularly true when you consider how some of the various political talk-show hosts, both from the extreme right and left side of the political spectrum, describe those political positions different from their own. They consistently attack their opponent’s character and quickly jump to erroneous conclusions, simply by assassinating and labeling him or her as being a “flaming liberal” or “conservative extremist,” or any other pejorative term.

One of the extremist’s tools of the trade is character assassination. By questioning their opponents motives, biases, prejudices, values, or a host of other qualities, they may besmirch their opponents’ character to such an extent that the listener will turn a deaf ear to what he or she may say in rebuttal.

Unfortunately, the talk-show host frequently uses arrogance and intellectual intimidation to sell his line of reasoning to his viewing or listening audience, while at the expense of his guest – which may be entertaining to the viewer or listener, but doesn’t further intellectual discourse or critical thinking. What is tragic about all of this is that the important political issues of the day are never seriously and fully discussed; only the talk-show hosts political biases and agenda is supported and promoted.
The old proverb, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never harm me,” may be true in some instances, however, in the field of politics, name-calling and pejorative descriptions that are made towards others who don’t embrace such political views not only harm, but also help destroy our democratic system of government. That’s done because such talk frequently and tragically short circuits and terminates any other comments made by those who disagree with what was said.

There is a reason why many who may even vehemently disagree with what was said choose to remain silent and follow the maxim “Silence is golden,” because if they get involved arguing, frequently, vociferously, with the perpetrator of the worthless statements, they too are immediately derogatorily labeled as also being one of those kinds of people that the offender just mentioned.

How in the world can democracy flourish under that kind of atmosphere? The answer is obvious, IT CAN’T!

In my book I just published: What Would Our Founding Fathers Say?:Why Today’s Leaders Have Lost Their Way, I discuss at length why the political atmosphere today is so caustic and what will ultimately happen to our beloved nation if we aren’t more civil with one another and don’t follow a bipartisan solution to dealing with the problem. Answer: By the end of the century, our Democracy and republic will become extinct!