We all know where you're coming from, Tony, 'cause we're all there too.
We're all grownups, and we understand extreme leftists can take us to the same place extreme rightists can, and we also know that moderates of either wing will eventually continue on the path of contiuous improvement this country has followed for over two hundred years. I have my political preferences and prejudices, but I recognize that with dialog and compromise we can hammer something out that will be the best for all. Our history has shown us that.

I see the problem as not being the politics of the players, but their psychology. Politicians start out as lawyers and businessmen and management executives, ambitious type-A personalities, careerists with no professional committment other than to winning and contempt for those who are not just like them. It's always been a problem, since 4th century Athens, and the purpose of our constitutions, legislatures and judges are to keep these people under control and their power dispersed. We need their strength and dynamism but we can never fully trust them.

I do believe the worst is over now, but we'll spend decades cleaning up the mess, and we'll always have to worry about the zealots and ideologues on the left taking advantage of the backlash and putting us in the same place again. The only thing that gives me encouragement is that over the long term, the country, and the world, has been improving. There will be stops and starts, setbacks and defeats, but in the long run, the trend is for progress. Even if the worst should happen,
and the despots triumph, the seed of freedom has been planted, and the sweet flavor of its fruit will be remembered.

"No hay mal que dure cien anos ni pueblo que lo soporte." --Jose Marti

(No evil will last a century, nor any people that will tolerate it.)