I stopped being a Democrat in the 1990s, but until just this year, I continued to draw a philosphical distinction between the “mainstream left” and the “radical left”.
I switched sides, but I continued to believe that there was lots of room for legitimate differences within our great pluralistic society. Typical Democrats or typical Republican were people of good conscience, who just had differences of perspective.
However, everything changed for me with the January Gaza protests. The Left’s participation in (and the media’s non-reaction) to the blatant return of good old-fashioned Jew hatred struck me deeply. Coupled with it were the themes of contempt for civilized society generally, that was the moment when the depth of the alliance between radical Islam and radical Leftism became forever clear to me.
I still believe that many mainstream leftists are good people, but now I see them as unwitting accomplices to the rise of a new totalitarian movement. Regular old garden variety Democrats need to wake up and realize who they are in bed with.
This has been a very depressing spring for me that way.
