Extremism Begets Extremism Begets Extremism

During all of my childhood and growing up years, most Americans were more concerned about the "wrongs" being done by evil men than about their "rights". Justice was dished out by judges, juries and by individuals if the court system failed them. I believe in law and order but when the judges, courts and government cease to administer justice against crime and for the victims of crime, they themselves become responsible, when angry citizens take justice into their own hands. God created civil law for the protection of all people from each other. That Civil Law is only sacrosanct when it is doing "God's work" as assigned in Romans 13:1-6 as "a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil". Government "inaction" causes an equal and opposite "reaction". Unpunished "injustice" eventually creates and ignites a vigilante reaction against the law itself. Extremism is nearly always the result of its opposite extremism. As the seed of destruction is within itself, so the seed of extremism begets extremism.

The degree of determination of the American Revolution against British government in America was a reaction to unfair taxation without representation. The Texas revolution, against General Santa Anna, was for abuse of Texians in violation and then abolishment of his own Mexican Constitution.

And then you have such examples as the Cuban Dictator Batista and Fidel Castro's revolution. They succeeded in eliminating Batista and installed the opposite extreme, Communism, which was even worse. Anyone who visited Cuba before and after the revolution knows that Cuba went from corruption before to deterioration after the "change they believed in". Their "Hope", for better treatment, resulted in loss of what freedom they had and they were worse off than ever. Tens of thousands fled Cuba. Their living standards have not kept up with those of most of the world since then. The rise of "Black Power" was a reaction against injustice as was the "Women's Rights" movement. The problem in all three of these cases is that their legitimate complaints, after they won the revolution, grew into illegitimate demands. As it has been so many times in history, after the injustice has been dealt with and "equal rights" are attained, the force by which they attained justice continues beyond justice into injustice. That is, having built a strong organization, funding, and followers to their cause, they tend to continue their momentum, demanding more and more beyond justice, beyond equality, beyond reason. That leads, again to another extreme reaction against them by the opposite side demanding justice for themselves which they have now lost.

I think America is rapidly rushing to just such a point, demanding "change" against the extreme, radical "change" voters had not intended. The Tea Party movement and thousands of voters switching from both major political parties, to Independents or one of the lesser movements, proves the point. From all I've seen of the Tea Party, they look and act like patriotic, normal Americans to me. But, if a few Tea Partiers seem extreme, it is to be expected. They are reacting to the opposite extreme. Extreme breeds extreme. Now, extreme, Left-Wing Liberals have brought "reaction" upon themselves. Where human beings are gathered, there is no way to avoid more than one level of attitude and emotion. Churches have their contradictory hypocrites and hotheads as do clubs, police, nursing homes and politics. A small minority of extremists is impossible to avoid where humans are involved. Ignorance demands perfection in all but itself.

Except for the American Revolution and the Civil War, Americans have always been able, through our Constitutional rights and freedoms to resolve serious national differences. But when government uses its limitless power to abuse and violate our Constitutional rights and freedoms, it is time for a national reaction to "change" that government....or die trying.

Pass It On. RB