I & I Editorial BoardHow many times have we read about the “extremist right” and how “radicalized” conservatives have become?
Wikipedia has a long entry on the “radical right,” but nothing on the “radical left.” Los Angeles Times reporter Jackie Calmes has a new book out subtitled “The Radicalization of the Republican Party.” CNN’s Brian Stelter says that “Experts warn about the radicalizing power of right-wing media networks.” The list is endless.
Enough! This is the mother of Big Lies!
Every day, it is the Democratic Party that is pushing an agenda more radical than yesterday. Its agenda is comprised of critical race theory, defunding police, open borders, socialism, nationalized health care, a federal takeover of elections, extremist environmentalism, packing the Supreme Court, killing the filibuster, the Green New Deal, cancel culture. None of these gets majority support in this country.
This isn’t just a small slice of the Democratic Party, either. Poll after poll shows that it is those who identify as Democrats who are way out of the mainstream. Let’s review some of the recent polling evidence to show who’s actually been radicalized in this country.
Critical Race Theory
The Biden administration is only the tip of the spear when it comes to attempts by the left to shove the Marxist-based “critical race theory” down everyone’s throat, particularly in the attempt to propagandize students. Team Biden is trying to bribe schools into teaching this race-baiting ideology to kids.
How mainstream is CRT? A new Economist/YouGov survey finds that 58% of Americans who know about CRT view it unfavorably, and 55% say it’s bad for America.
But among Democrats? Almost 90% view CRT favorably and 85% say it’s good for the country.
Casting the country as irredeemably racist and pitting races against each other in permanent battle: How much more radicalized can you get?
Related to this is the fact that nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64%) favor reparations, compared with just 29% of independents and 10% of Republicans, according to a UMass Amherst poll.
Open Borders
Democrats often claim that they aren’t for open borders. But that’s not true.
A recent Harvard/Harris poll found that most Democrats believe that Joe Biden’s executive orders are behind the recent surge in illegal immigration (62% say this), but they overwhelmingly approve of the job Biden is doing on the border (83%).
What’s left to conclude but that today’s Democrats – and only them – favor open borders?
Defunding Police
Democrats keep insisting that when they say “defund the police” they don’t literally mean defund the police. But surveys show that’s exactly what they mean.
A Gallup poll found that more than a quarter of Democrats (27%) support “abolishing police departments.” More than three quarters (78%) support “reducing the budgets of police departments and shifting the money to social programs.” Among independents, only 12% support the former and 46% the latter.
We’ve seen the consequences of this radical Democratic ideology carried out in cities that took steps to defund their police departments. It’s measured in dead bodies – cop and civilian alike – from the sharp rise in violent crime.
Election Fraud
A Monmouth poll found that it’s Democrats who are out of the mainstream on election integrity reforms.
Just 48% of Democrats, for example, think voter fraud is a problem at all, compared with 69% of the general public. (The widespread examples of proven voter fraud, including several that changed the outcome of elections, are clear evidence that Democrats wrong on this.)
Democrats also overwhelmingly want mail-in voting made easier (84% support this), despite the obvious risk it poses for increased fraud. Only 40% of independents and 26% of Republicans want to ease rules on mail-in voting.
Democrats are also the least likely to support voter ID requirements, with 62% backing IDs, compared with 87% of independents and 91% of Republicans.
But they do like the idea of having the federal government take over state elections – by a 92% margin. (Senate Republicans just killed a Democratic bill that would do that – the misnamed “For the People Act.”)
Censorship
The left used to be all about free speech. Now it’s pining for government control of speech it doesn’t like. The left wants to ban speakers on campus, exclude books from libraries and online sales that don’t toe the liberal line, and kick them off social media platforms.
A UC Berkeley poll found that 53% of California Democrats favor restricting First Amendment rights for “hate groups” by denying them their right to free assembly.
A Cato Institute poll from a few years ago found that 52% of Democrats nationwide favor having the government prevent people from engaging in hate speech, while 61% support making it illegal to say offensive things about blacks in public.
The Great Reset
After world “leaders” started talking about using COVID-19 as an excuse to implement a “great reset” of the global economy to make it “resilient, equitable, and sustainable,” the Great Reset movement was born.
And guess who supports this most radical of economic policy prescriptions for what amounts to a worldwide socialist economy controlled by a handful of elites? A Heartland Institute/Rasmussen poll found that only 42% of those likely voters who’d heard of the Great Reset movement said they favor it, with 53% opposing.
“American voters do not support the Great Reset’s radical, anti-capitalism agenda, and they most certainly don’t want international institutions influencing U.S. policy,” Heartland’s Justin Haskins said.
But among Democrats? Nearly three-quarters (72%) support the Great Reset movement.
Other Issues
Democrats are the radicals on a host of other issues that would be destructive to the nation and our way of life:
Court-packing: 76% of Dems favor destroying the integrity of the Supreme Court by packing it with leftist justices, only 45% of the public does.
Filibuster: Barely half of Democrats want to keep this Senate tradition that protects the country against the tyranny of the majority; 67% of the public wants to preserve it.
Antifa: Almost a third of Democrats have a favorable view of pro-violence Antifa, compared with just 16% of independents and 11% of Republicans.
Green New Deal: Democrats overwhelmingly support spending $2 trillion “on climate change now” (68% favor this). They are alone, however. Most independents and Republicans (54% and 73%, respectively) oppose it.
We’re supposed to worry about the radical right because, we’re told, it’s prone to violence. That, too, is bogus. Yes, there are extremists on the right. But the attack on the Capitol, which is cited as proof positive of violent radicalism, involved one intentional death – which was caused by a still-unnamed person shooting a protester.
Nothing the right has done lately compares to the death and destruction caused by months of leftist riots – with the tacit approval of prominent Democrats – across the country. Nothing compares to the destruction leftist policies have brought to cities that have embraced them.
So, tell us again which side has been radicalized? Which side deserves to be kicked off social media, investigated by the Justice Department, hounded by corporations, ostracized from polite society? Which is the side we’re supposed to worry about?
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Bob Maistros
Using these vague “policy violations,” Google is now threatening to demonetize us. It’s part of Big Tech’s effort to silence conservative voices.
The Democratic Party was taken over by radicals in the 1960s and they’ve been radical ever since. The party is ruled by radicals and they have an agenda – domination of the American people. “Democrat” and “radical” are synonymous.
The divide between Dems and Reps is so wide that no compromise is possible. Especially when the Dems want to shut down debate on any issue, prefer a dictatorial approach to handling We the People and, generally, have a loathing for America. Where do you start your negotiations, even if they wanted to?
The only thing radical these days about the American right is that they are trying, peacefully, to maintain Constitutional values in this country. Evidently that’s a jailing offense as far as the the Marxist radical left, that is power today, is concerned.
Dems are also notorious for their disdain for our constitution. 1A & 2A especially.
There is no doubt that the Democratic Party – the normative party of Biden, Pelosi and Schumer – has become far more radical than normative Republicans. The Democrats of Warren, Sanders, Wyden and the Squad are far more radical still. What is more perplexing and even more dangerous to the continuation of our democratic Republic is the peanut gallery cheering Democrats on and constructing public school curricula to propagandize future generations of Americans – mainstream media (NPR, PBS, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, etc.), elite academic centers, major foundations, and the like. Not an insignificant component of this rush to constrictive progressive governance is the guilt trip laid on the dominant population by members of the groups identified above who feel that irresponsible virtue signaling will not endanger our way of life, will not destroy the strongest and best governing and economic system ever devised. If we survive intact, it will be because nameless Americans in the millions shed virtue-signaling elite opinion for common sense. Now, who is going to lead that crusade?
And yet, the republican establishment endorsed Brain-dead Biden over President Trump.
It’s seems a bit disingenuous to criticize the results they helped engineer. They supported the four year coup that culminated in the stolen election. And they supported blaming President Trump for the Jan 6th false flag riot. They did nothing but obstruct and sabotage our President.
The reality described here has happened because the same covert political power which took control of the Democratic Party also took control over the former mainstream media, most the entertainment industry, and “big tech”. It’s my estimate that probably half of Democrats may not be committed to this covert revolution if it weren’t for the fact the covert political power had taken control over these other major influence organizations.
Soooo, you still actually believe there are two separate political parties in this country and not just one disguised as two separate political parties. Wake up, Bubba.
I don’t understand how the Democrats- who want to prevent racism and hate speech, protect the environment and allow more immigration- are more radical than those who want to restrict the rights of gay and trans people, and are too selfish to care about the environment. Being in favour of racism and against protecting the world from extreme weather is an objectively damaging and disgusting view to have. Immigration is a topic people have varying views on, but opening the borders a little definitely cannot be seen as radical or extreme, unless your beliefs are deeply rooted in xenophobia. Sure, there are some Democrats or leftists that do want to defund the police or fully open the borders or are secretly attempting to overthrow the constitution m, but it’s necessary to bear in mind that not all of them are like this. They are just normal people with normal and understandable (albeit different) views.