If You Only Take Offense

When People Tap Into This Politics Of Resentment, It Usually Ends Ugly.

If You Only Take Offense When The President Of Your Party Is Compared To Hitler, Then You're Part Of The Problem.

But In His Farewell Address, George Washington Made It Clear That He Perceived No Greater Threat To The American Experiment Than A Partisan Demagogue Who 'agitates The Community With Ill-founded Jealousies And False Alarms, Kindles The Animosity Of One Part Against The Other'

Our Politics Are Being Hijacked By A Comparatively Small Number Of People Who Seek To Dominate The Debate By Screaming The Loudest. They See The World As An Urgent Struggle Between True Believers And Nonbelievers. They Attempt To Impose Strict Litmus Tests And Insist On Conformity. They Demonize Dissent And Consider All Political Opponents Their Enemies. Fear Is Their Favourite Tactic As They Try To Divide And Conquer

I Believe That The Far-right And The Far-left Can Be Equally Insane - But There's No Question That In The First Years Of The Obama Administration, The Far-right Has Been Far Crazier. In Part, This Comes From Parties Being Out Of Power - Without The Responsibility Of Governing To Ground Them, The Activists And The Ideologues Take Over.