Right and Left both need to look at their leadership...

I read this article and it actually resounded with me despite the fact I normally avoid this kind of right wing doom speaking. There was something in its tone and presentation that actually managed to cut through my normally tough skin and allowed me to actually see what the guy was saying. Instead of simply bashing the left he actually explains why the left wing should be worried about the leadership we have been electing recently. While normally attacks against Obama, Reid, and other democrats and leftists tends to make me tune out, this time I not only could understand where he was coming from, but agree with quite a bit of it. 

Now don't go getting me wrong here, I may agree with quite a bit of what Mr. Kruiser said, but I am by no means ready to join the right any time soon. Also, while the article was very good at pointing out why the left needs to examine its leaders, I don't see the same insight given to his own political party. While yes, the tea party is indeed challenging the established Republican leadership, there are still plenty of dangerous ideas on the right. I am not saying all ideas on the right are dangerous anymore than the article makes any claim that all leftist ideas are dangerous. I am saying there are a few that just like the things pointed out by Mr. Krusier need to be considered by the left, there are some that the right needs to consider as well.

Mr. Kruiser brings up a few examples in his article, and I feel its only fair if I do the same. The main thrust of the article is that the Democratic leadership has gone off the deep end and we liberals should be aware of that. I also believe the same to be true of much of the Republican leadership and of the incoming Tea Party delegates. Their combination of hatred for welfare, their willingness to wage war, and their insistence on not raising taxes on the wealthy are all very scary things and something they should look at deeply. Just like liberals have been sold the Koch brothers are behind all evil, the right has been sold that welfare, taxes, and organized labor are the root of all evil. 

At one time you could talk to a Republican about the benefits of welfare and by and large they would agree that there are many. Now, they would say we spend to much money on it and they would make an argument that government is the worst organization to handle welfare, but they would agree it has a benefit.  Now if you mention welfare run the risk of setting of a raging tirade about the injustice of a socialist draconian welfare state. Why has this happened? Because just as the left has been brainwashed to believe that all government is good government, the right is being brainwashed to believe no government is the best government. 

Just like with the left being hoodwinked, the right is as well and it all comes down to the media. both sides of he media have turned on the misinformation like never before and have drifted so far from the truth that it is almost impossible for us to know exactly what the truth is. While the right has long held the media is left winged, they have never wanted to yield to the fact they have their own media outlets. Currently conservative talk radio dominates the AM band and is doing nothing but pumping fear and hatred into their listeners. The cries of socialism and dictatorship have grown louder and louder, where moderate voices are ridiculed and thrown out for being to "soft" or "not conservative enough". This has led to the right going further away from the center than ever before and just as with the left, is a very dangerous thing.

If the conservatives succeed in their plan to abolish welfare, taxes, and organized labor, the face of the U.S. becomes a different place. We have a great historical context to actually know what this would look like. At the birth of the industrial era U.S. policy looked a lot like the dream conservatives are being given, but the reality of what it looked like is nothing at all like the dream. I am sure some conservatives believe that for some reason our world would not look the same as that world, but they are wrong.

While it is hard for them to accept, the right has to eventually concede that some government is needed to assure that the field of opportunity remains as level as possible. This means that not only do we need to bolster those with less opportunity, but that those with greater opportunity should bear a greater burden. Ideally we wouldn't have to do either, and that should be the world we work toward, but until we are in a world where everyone is truly given equal opportunity to win or lose, we need to keep the balancing act going.

If the right continues to pull further and further to the extreme right, then eventually no matter how moderate the left becomes the cause is lost. In the same token, the left needs to start working more toward the middle as well. As an electorate we need to end reactionary opinions and start looking at our own sides and work to fix what is wrong there instead of only looking at the opposing side. If we can do that, if both right and left can work to find their way to middle ground again, then we have hope.