The left and right are not similar: Another reality check

[DonViejo]

As uncompromising Tea Partyers like Rand Paul run the GOP, real lefties like Bernie Sanders are often marginalized

BY ALEX SEITZ-WALD

That Tea Party conservatives aren’t much interested in compromise isn’t particularly surprising. But it’s striking to see the sentiment laid out in so many words, as a coalition of 20 Tea Party groups did in a letter urging Sen. Lamar Alexander, a fairly moderate Republican from Tennessee, to retire.

“Unfortunately, our great nation can no longer afford compromise and bipartisanship, two traits for which you have become famous,” the open letter reads. “America faces serious challenges and needs policymakers who will defend conservative values, not work with those who are actively undermining those values.”

It’s a remarkable statement. These activists aren’t saying that there are certain issues they hold dear and lines that must not be crossed, they’re saying that compromise in and of itself is unacceptable. Of course, compromise and bipartisanship are necessary to do anything in divided Congress, so these Tea Party groups aren’t just drawing a strong line, they’re categorically rejecting the importance of governing. Period.

The letter, which seems like a perfect distillation of the Tea Party at its most nihilistic, should underscore that any attempt to compare “the far right” to “the far left” is false equivalency. Throwing your hands up and “party polarization” on both sides is a cop-out, and an incorrect one.

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/16/the_left_and_right_are_not_similar_another_reality_check/

[fjlovato]

1. More alike than one might think

As I read DU these last few weeks, I concluded the "left" crazies and the "right" crazies are very close to each other. Both have a constant fear of government action and are convinced that someone is either spying on them or plotting to take their freedoms. The left think it is international business and the right think it is the "one worlders." Neither group has any sense of reality. Thankfully I have not read much of that in DU lately so maybe the lefties have gone back into their caves for the winter.