A central theme that I often see in Idaho is to default to labels of extremism when discussing Idaho’s right spectrum. It’s a regular occurrence to read op-eds suggesting that Idaho’s right has gone too far to the right and that what we really need is a broad center. But studies from even left-leaning organizations like Pew consistently show that it is in fact the American left that has gone off of the rails. When billions in riot damage and dozens of murders by leftist organizations like Antifa and BLM are labeled mostly peaceful and downplayed, while January 6 is labeled tantamount to Pearl Harbor or September 11, Houston, we have a problem.
The primary issue with this assertion of extremism is who is making this assertion. My friends, might I point out that it is the authoritarian spectrum that is making this assertion of extremism?
The supposed far-right believes that the government shouldn’t arbitrarily shut down your livelihood in the name of the greater good. These people believe that their tax dollars are best directed toward educating children on objective facts and not activist indoctrination. They believe that in order to secure the welfare of the public, they must defend the interests of the people of the United States with secured borders and policies that protect the Americans who labor for them. Freedom and the Constitution are the default positions. Any deviations from these ideals are in fact extreme.
There is a reason that I use the term authoritarian spectrum and not the American left. It is more inclusive of all political spectrums that believe themselves arbiters of government and heirs to the future of this country. I originally come from Georgia, which has benefited for decades from the good old boy system that finds its wheelhouse squarely in the center of the political spectrum. This is because the good old boy system first and foremost exists to protect its own entrenched power. The center is where the good old boy system best operates because they can ride the fence and govern with sentiment polling. The problem is that sentiment polling is not a respecter of the Constitution or inalienable rights. Eventually, you get to a place where partisan left-wing executives can rewrite electoral policy, and the moderate right spectrum cowers in the face of objective fraud for fear of falling to the “extremist” side of public sentiment polling.
There is no such thing as a moderate utopia. In reality, there is no such thing as Utopia on Earth. It is the pursuit of the state of perfection. When it comes to governing, there are really only two means of pursuing perfection: either by force or by freedom. There is no such thing as collective perfection if we acknowledge the sovereignty of the human soul and the consent of the governed as the highest forms of government. All parties can never be satisfied at any given time. Inevitably, perfection by force requires overriding the sovereignty of the human soul, and it may even require using the guns of the collective to get our way. We are seeing this in the draconian COVID lockdowns and vaccine mandates. That is immoral.
Moderation in government is no virtue. It is a feature of pure democracy that it eventually consumes itself. When politicians find that blowing with sentiment polling perpetuates their own careers, it inevitably bends toward authoritarianism.
In authoritarian governments, politicians are looked to as the solution to everything. For example, if a populace can vote to extract the labor of others rather than work, they will. This is now being felt, first from the COVID unemployment bonuses, and then in the massive inflation that we’re experiencing because people have a glut of others’ money and rising competition for a dearth of supply. When the correction comes, and it will, it is the greedy capitalist system that will receive the blame and not the fence-sitting politicians who merely conformed to sentiment polling.
I write all of this as a warning. Twenty years ago, California elected a Republican as governor. Already in 2022, California made mail-in balloting universal and likely solidified a Democrat majority indefinitely. There is no question that Democrats are willing to skirt the bounds of legitimacy when it comes to elections, and if they can ballot-harvest their own majority until time eternal, they will. In twenty years’ time, they went from moderate to left-wing hegemony because moderate politicians lack the spine to fight for ideals like the Constitution and freedom.
Here in Idaho, Democrats weaponized the courts to override the Legislature on things like Medicaid expansion. It is a huge folly to make Idaho beholden to the unfettered federal printing press and, resultingly, its dictates. As in Arizona, Democrats will next pursue ballot referenda to weight the Legislature toward urban districts and, eventually, blue majorities. You’ve seen it over and again in Washington and Oregon.
As we approach the 2022 elections, have more faith in your fellow Americans and trust that freedom is the answer. Stop accepting moderation in government at the cost of your children’s future. You’re less than 20 years away from authoritarian hegemony.