Destination Oblivion

   It's easy to criticize and find fault. Ask any comedian or drama reviewer. It's much harder to find common political ground.
   An attitude of "my way or the highway" works only if you own the bus, you're the driver and most of the passengers already agree with you. But is it right to dump those who disagree and leave them in a desert while only those who follow the leader/driver travel on to the "Land of Prosperity"?
   There are, however, folks who claim such an attitude is right. These folks say: "If they're not with us, they're against us. Let 'em starve. They are the enemy. They don't deserve special treatment, or any consideration at all."
   Such an attitude calls for members of the self-chosen group to close ranks and adhere ever more closely to what they feel are basic principles, shutting out those who disagree and refusing any hint of compromise. They hold fast to core beliefs and do not acknowledge the existence, much less the validity, of any other position but their own.

   The future for such self-righteous radicals, whether their views are religious or political, is oblivion.
   Insisting that everyone conform to the Right Way as the Only Way leads to dictatorship, and examples are available worldwide.
   Put another way, if there's only one bus for the True Believers and rest of the fleet is heading in a different direction, that single bus will find itself alone in a desert. 

   Today's Tea Party Republicans are leading the Radical Right down a straight and very narrow-minded path to a lonely desert, hoping beyond hope that the rest of the nation, especially those inclined to think for themselves and form their own opinions, will see "the error of their ways" and return to the True Path.
   But closing ranks and insisting on tighter adherence to core beliefs only shuts out alternate solutions, compromise and progress.

   There is more danger to freedom of independent thought from the Radical Right than from the Liberal Left.

   "It can't happen here," you say? But it can, and very nearly did, several times in my lifetime. Want examples? Consider Watergate, or the troika of Cheney-Rumsfeld-Bush, or today's Tea Party adherents.
   Or read these two books: "It Can't Happen Here," (fiction) and "The Plot to Seize the White House" (fact). Both deal with America in the 1930s.