As IF Times

link Why is Karl Rove taking shots at Sarah Palin and Christine ODonnell? – CSMonitor.com.

The same kind of affliction that savages the left also exists on the right.  That is to say, neither side are completely monolithic in their worldviews and certainly strong personalities within the groups will differ on specific philosophies.  While the left claim to represent the common working man, the truth is, the dominant figures are unabashedly elitist and have as much to do with the common man as sweet breads have to dough. 

When you have uber rich people like Nancy Pelosi, James Cameron, Warren Buffet, Al Gore and George Soros telling people how to best conduct themselves, it’s a head scratcher as to why people who are actually working class,  would identify with them.   As if Warren can identify with paying a mortgage or feeding the kids.  As if Al burns fluorescent bulbs in his villas.

While they claim the high roads of compassion and tolerance, their most vocal proponents in the media have never travelled them.  Many couldn’t find those roads with a box of GPS’s and a guide dog.  It’s great TV to watch the insane outbursts of a Joy Behar or a  Bill Maher or the more subtle guffaws offered by nonsensical people like George Stephanopolous or Katie Couric. 

But no doubt, many saner residents of the left cringe when someone who claims to represent them spouts off with some irrational outburst; Keith Obermann comes to mind.  As well, the antics of the Black Panthers and SEIU are sure to send lefties scurrying to hiding their membership cards.

On the other side of the political fence, conservatives no doubt grimace every time Meghan Mccain, with her valley girl lilt,  deigns to speak for the right.  At the moment, there is an obvious rift between the ‘established’ right, represented by Karl Rove and the ‘new right’, represented of course by Sarah Palin.  Conservatives like Rove have to be careful because much of the elitist accusations that have been thrust at Democrats apply to the GOP as well.  I wonder how Karl felt about Ronald Reagan in his time.

Rove, while certainly a political genius, has spent all of his life in this space.  The disdain he shows for upstarts such as Palin and Christine O’Donnell smacks strongly of  elitism.  Like the other side, he is in danger of proposing that politics become a club for professionals only and that common people need not apply. 

This kind of mentality is what led to the decimation of the Republican party and which perception lingers in the minds of voters despite the reality.  Not everyone can be a professional BS’er.  Occasionally people with real lives are valid candidates.  The last thing we need are two elitist parties.

link Japan warns of extreme nationalism in China row.

What images pop into our heads when we see the word ‘extreme’ used to describe the players in any political conflict?  Are we talking fist pumping, belligerently chanting mobs or are we talking skirmishes amongst meek bureaucrats with bad comb-overs?  We hear this word applied to so many things today, it loses any meaning at all.  It’s like new and improved or hypo-allergenic, the label is useless.  Over the past year or so, the ‘extreme’ description has been particularly worn out in the political world.  For instance, it’s the standard label that’s employed  by liberals when characterizing conservatives.  The criticism of recently elected Republican candidates sponsored by the Tea Party in state primaries relied heavily on the depiction of  extreme.  What does that even mean?

If we’re talking about law and order and the candidate proposes lopping off the hands of thieves, of stoning adulterers, of caning miscreants, well I guess that could qualify as extreme.   If this same candidate proposes that certain social norms be adopted such as head to toe coverage by a drop cloth for all women, or the prohibition by women to drive, the banning of women from schooling or to be seen in daylight, well, some may think that’s extreme also.

Recently, Noam Chomsky, a notorious lefty who thinks that white lines on a black road constitutes racism, expressed his views on the rise of the ‘extreme’ right in America.  http://progreso-weekly.com/2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1597:chomsky-warns-of-the-rise-of-the-extreme-right-in-the-us&catid=37:neighbors-to-the-south&Itemid=56

Our man apparently thinks that the opposition by the masses to wrongheaded and damaging government policies is extremism.  Of course, in the eyes of such as Chomsky, the very idea of having elections as a means of political expression is extreme.  It would be much more expedient to have the rulers issue dictates to the mouth breathing hoi polloi. 

Of course, it’s hard to argue the extreme positions of most conservative candidates for office.  They make easy targets with their deluded notions of self reliance and hard work: of balancing income column A with spending column B and of decreasing the influence of government in peoples’ daily lives.  There are even some conservatives that think laws should not be enforced according to race or ethnicity.  That’s just crazy talkin’!  Surely this is the beginnings of a new Weimar Republic.

Rand Paul, the republican candidate for Kentucky was labelled an extremist for this comment in reference to coal mining in some hills in part of that state,

“…I don´t think anybody will be missing a hill or two here and there…”

This of course is vinegar in the eyes of the environmentalists and so the Sierra Club”s Cathy Duvall, responded thusly,

“…We are working to get the word out that we can’t let these extremists run our government…”

And he probably doesn’t recycle either.

In California, the green nuts have curtailed the flow of water into one of the most fertile parts of that state, endangering people via reduced crop yields and bankruptcy of the farmers because of a small fish called the delta smelt.  It’s possible that allowing fish to take precedence over people may be seen by some as extreme, but I haven’t heard any dare to use that word here.

For the enlightenment of all conservatives, I wouldn’t be too worried about being labelled an extremist especially if it came from liberals.  I’d be more worried that they labelled you a moderate.