Both Extremes Are Not Equally-dangerous, Although I Once Believed

Last updated on: December 14, 2022 at 11:26 am by Julie Nichols

Both Extremes Are Not Equally-dangerous, Although I Once Believed 2022-12-14T11:26:10-06:00 Julie Nichols

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Both political extremes are not equally-dangerous although I once believed this. Please note that I am not speaking of the majority of Americans who are both Democrat and Republican. When I say extreme, I am speaking of less than 5% on both ends of the political spectrum, especially here in Texas. As a former moderate Texas Republican until 2016, I once thought that the extreme Left and the Extreme Right were just as bad and very much like each other in many ways. I based this former belief from my past views and some Yale studies which speak of the maladies within these two political extremes. The studies from Yale were speaking only in theory, NOT in the current reality of Texas live-time politics.

So in order not to “call out” one particular extremist side in live-time reality, I am going to write by saying “one extreme supports/is against this this while the other supports/is against that” specifically in the state Texas. I will allow you as the reader to determine which extremist side is doing “what” in Texas.

One extremist side supports/is against “this” while the other extremist side supports/is against “that”…….specifically in Texas

One extremist side supports the criminalization of abortion which could include jail time, fines, bounties, the death penalty, and/or other penalties. The other side supports allowing the mother to choose at any time during the pregnancy with no restrictions. Just a note, most abortions occur before the 20th week, and a small percentage happen after 25 weeks even when there are no restrictions. The Democratic party statistically reduces the abortion rate (actual number of abortions) better than the Republican party.
One extremist side supports intentionally legislating against transgender youth and their parents to the point of pushing these families out of Texas and endangering the lives and human dignity of all family members. The other extremist side wants to fully protect, include, and provide access to gender-affirming life saving healthcare for transgender youth and create sanctuary cities for them and their families.
One extremist side denies the science supported by every major medical association in the world for LGBTQ+ people while the other extremist side is in alignment with current science on this issue.
One extremist side supports cruel penalties of patient healthcare for medical needs such as maternity care, prenatal care, and gender-affirming care although these are not the only areas of healthcare they want to control. By doing so, they go against the advice of every major medical association in the world. The other extremist side wants to give full autonomy to patient and doctor under nationalized healthcare with no outside interference from both the Church and state.
One extremist side makes failed promises to maintain the Texas ERCOT Powergrid which has resulted in dangers and even many deaths of Texans. The other extremist side wants the Texas powergrid to be fully-connected to the Federal powergrid so there is back-up when extreme weather hits the state of Texas.
One extremist side wants remove some key racial history curriculum from Texas classrooms and ban a variety of books, including books by Black and LBGTQ authors. The other extremist side wants to give access to all literature so students have literature choices from a wide variety of genres and authors.
One extremist side wants to make it legal to buy a gun without a permit and openly carry it. The other extremist side doesn’t want to take away guns but provide reasonable restrictions on guns to protect all Texans.
One extremist side fought against mask and vaccine mandates during the worst pandemic in over 100 years resulting in nearly 90,000 deaths, almost 10% of the total US COVID death toll. The other extremist side wanted to pass mask and vaccine mandates before the COVID vaccines were available to keep businesses open and protect all Texans.

I believe that the current Texas legislative actions of one extremist side is falling in alignment with fascism. According to Encyclopedia Britannica
and The Washington Monthly, I summarized these primary traits of fascism.

1. sources and capitalizes on economic woes and anxieties
2. shifts political blame on to scapegoat groups like minority groups, others from a different political party,
immigrants, and other groups while taking away blame from where it belongs, on the leadership
3. propagates extreme nationalism going hand-in-hand with racism and militarism
4. a melding of church and state when there should be a separation
5. subjugation of women and sexism
6. a disdain for human rights except those of the elite
7. obsession with crime and punishment
8. identification of enemies as a unifying cause for political action
9. disdain for intellectualism, science, history, and the arts
10. control of different types of media, including books
11. rampant cronyism and government corruption
12. attempt to control elections, like through voter suppression

I would like to allow you as the reader to determine if both sides are equally as dangerous in the State of Texas, mainly in the extreme ends of both political parties.

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