Army Bob: Far left and far right get too much attention from the media

In a past debate with one of the liberal columnists for this august publication, I was chastised for referring to President Obama as our president. His comment was that he did not vote for him and thus he is not his president.

I do not approve of President Obama and did not vote for him, moving here from Illinois, where President Obama was a State Senator and a United States Senator; nine years ago I disliked him long before my colleague ever heard his name.

A fact my liberal colleague will never understand is the sense of duty possessed by those of us who sacrificed our youth for our nation. I do not approve of President Obama, but I would take a bullet for him not because of his politics or his beliefs or actions, but because he is our president and our commander in chief.

Devotion to a nation is an insane concept to a true progressive, who believes in a world without nations or borders and with loyalty only to the Progressive/Socialist movement, no church, no family, no loyalty allowed other than the approved political system.

Duty, honor and devotion to our nation, our flag, and our constitution are concepts alien to my liberal colleague. People who are strong progressives fascinate me because they do not believe in government, while advocating for government control of all aspects of production and distribution of all products we use and the total government regulation of our lives? Got to wonder how that works.

A progressive will tell us they do not approve of President Obama because he is not sufficiently liberal. The concept that President Obama is not a liberal illustrates the radicalism of the progressive movement; no one, even the father of communism, Vladimir Lenin, would ever be “sufficiently Liberal.”

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated she prefers the title of progressive to liberal; nice try, Ms. Clinton, but you will never live up to the expectations of the true progressive movement. The progressives may vote for her as they did President Obama, but if she is elected the very next day she will not be “my president” according to confirmed progressives or socialists.

The extremists on the left and right of the political aisle will never accept the good because it is not the perfect; they will toss out the baby with the bathwater, denounce and renounce any and all governance because it lacks perfection. A major reason the zealots hate our Democracy from the left and from the right is that our government is based on the need to compromise. Compromise is a sellout and a betrayal to the vocal 5% on the political fringes of our nation, but a very necessary thing to make our republic form of government work.

The level of hatred we find on the left and right fringe of our society is growing and should be troubling to us all. Thanks to our primary system, in which 5 to 20% get to dictate who is on the ballot and thus who is elected, we will move further and further away from the political center and have only the radical left and right on the ballot.

The media also loves a “firebrand,” giving the extreme on both sides of the political aisle more exposure than those who caution moderation and compromise. Say you disagree with your political opponent and no media will cover it; say your opponent is a filthy liar who wants to starve children, oppress women, kicks dogs and incinerate kittens, and you get page one.

The rise of Internet news has given our nation an even more polarized view; a recent poll indicates that most young folks get news from Facebook, entertainment TV or social media. Find a news source you agree with and have it sent to your social media page and you continue to get the news from a source that verifies your concept of the news. Social media designer news will not give you a balance of opinion, the very balance that a representative democracy needs to function properly.

Indeed, I have discussed The Town Broadcast with folks who maintain that they prefer a competitor’s news as it is less left-wing in its editorial and opinion columns.

The 5 percent who hate everything that is not perfection in their eyes will join the young in only getting news from designer sources that confirm their deep-seated beliefs. Our democracy needs an educated electorate to function properly, and folks need to look at both sides of an issue to be properly informed.

This august publication is however very typical of the media: two right wing conservatives and four left wing, progressive folks opining in its pages. A perfect and fair balance of thought in the eyes of the media. At least The Town Broadcast publishes unfiltered counter-arguments to its radically left of center editorial stands, rendering it better balanced than the majority of the media.