There have always been extremists when it comes to beliefs and politics and, depending upon the era, their numbers ebbed and flowed. But the term ‘extremist’ should be taken into perspective as throughout history people such as the suffragettes, the women’s movement, ecologists and even those that supported civil rights were considered ‘extremists’. But today’s concept of extremists have an entirely new agenda. Using misinformation on the net, brainwashing techniques and less than common sense guidelines, the extreme Tea Party Left has taken on a new image that is just as dangerous as the extreme right. In their eyes, their way is the only way and everyone else must be discarded as old-school or ‘neo-liberals’.

The rise of the extreme left political movement occurred during the 2016 Presidential election, with Bernie Sanders as a candidate. His message resonated with those that had not paid attention to and/or were not interested in politics. It didn’t matter that Sanders has been rallying the same stump speech for most of his career and that a majority of his rhetoric was based on the radical extremist Abbie Hoffman. To these new generations, the words were golden, as his platform promised ‘free stuff’ with very little in the way of follow up plans of action.

Sanders was held to a different set of standards than his opponent, Hillary Clinton. He was never vetted and eventually only released one year of his taxes. The media supported him as another method of ‘entertainment’ and he received one of the highest exposure of any candidate. Hillary made every effort for total transparency, and even that wasn’t enough for the extreme left. It was, however, Sander’s words that transitioned from the initial discussion of removal of power and money from the top 1% into the socialist beliefs that he has long held and the calls for damnation for anyone that didn’t support them. We watched in horror as his supporters turned into a cult, chanting ‘burn the witch’ as he stood by smiling.

The Internet Moves to Create the Monsters

If there is one thing that occurred during the 2016 election, it was the dispersal of complete and total misinformation. We are slowly learning about the in-depth interference of those involved in creating ‘fake news’ as a method to keep Hillary Clinton from winning the Presidency. For those that were paying attention, they would have heard the exact same misinformation and conspiracy theories from the extreme right and extreme left. Both sides were so embedded in their own state of denial that neither bothered to fact check.

The anti-Hillary conspiracy theories were being created by outside realms and the extreme parties were eating it up. In a Huffington Post article they indicate the discovery of some of the fake news from Macedonia, but by the time the entire process was done, it was clear that the purpose was to divide the Democratic Party so that Hillary Clinton would lose.

Social media exploded with extreme right and left ‘trolls’ and it became difficult to distinguish real supporters from foreign fakes. It was during this time that those supporters that felt a kinship with Sander’s message made the leap and began to refer to him as a kind of ‘messiah’. To them, these words were ‘new’, but to anyone that was older than sixteen or a member of the millennials, these were terms of the past.

Embracing Socialism

Image source: flame.org

Sanders has a dark history and only those that have done the research were aware of it; even the media didn’t touch his rabid support of both communist and socialist leaders and dictators or his personally stated dislike for any of the political parties. They refused to accept that Sanders has a background of saying a lot and doing little, all the while promoting socialist policies as the only answer. His supporters were parroting the successes of other countries and referring to Hillary Clinton as a ‘war hawk’, while disregarding Sander’s blatant support of unfettered gun ownership and some of the decisions that he made in his home state of Vermont to approve toxic waste dumping in a Latino community of Sierra Madre, Texas.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to denial about Sanders and the complete and total brainwashing of the extreme Tea Party Left. In a Politifact graph, they investigated the truth about which candidate was truly ‘progressive’ and Hillary Clinton won. However, the extreme Tea Party Left refused to acknowledge or accept the information as it would taint their view of their cult leader. Instead, they continued to repeat the mantras of the false news and conspiracy theories until they were all communicating the same thing in a cut-and-paste manner.

Additionally, the Sanders supporters were now adopting the philosophies that the United States, which is acknowledged to no longer be a Democracy, but closer to an Oligarchy, should now become a socialist government. Why? Because they wanted it, and they would stomp their feet, yell and hold their breath until they got it.

The Fallout of the Extreme Left Voting Choice

Image Source: Politifact

As the 2016 election moved forward, so did the conspiracy theories of the extreme Tea Party Left. Even though Bernie Sanders didn’t get the number of votes needed, the extremists began screaming that the election was stolen from him. They created stories regarding the DNC trying to exclude him, when in fact, it was gracious of them to allow a devout Independent such as Sanders to even run under the Democratic ticket; especially given that Sanders had long spouted dislike for the party.

BernieOrBust groups had previously formed to try to force his candidacy on the Democratic Party and they continued throughout the election and even after it. While it must be noted that this movement has succeeded in changing the needle of the Democrats to a more left view, there is now a new attitude that has come to pass in which the extreme Tea Party Left have announced their plans to take over the party entirely. Of course, they are being led by the Independent, Bernie Sanders. Lifelong Democrats are outraged because of Sanders history and notable dislike for the party and Sanders loyalists seem to be lined up to push their agenda across the nation, one county at a time. In a Wall Street article, reprinted by cc-ds.org they state:

“For now, the strategy of Mr. Sanders’s followers is to infiltrate and transform the Democratic Party’s power structure, starting with the lowest-level state and county committee posts that typically draw scant attention.”

Apparently, for the Sanders supporters, it isn’t enough that the new DNC Chair is Tom Perez and he selected long time Bernie Sanders advocate Keith Ellison as Co-Chair. For these people, it must be ‘all or nothing’ to get their personal agenda and they are willing to walk over whomever they need to, to accomplish it.

Democrats Aren’t Buying It

As we are visually experiencing and seeing in the current administration, extremists are destructive. Their single view of how the world should function never takes into account all of the nuances, opinions and benefits of others. Thus it is the same with the Tea Party Left and the rest of the members of the Democratic Party, which far outnumber them, aren’t buying what they are selling.

The formation of the ‘BernieCrats’ occurred almost immediately after Sanders lost the candidacy. While traditional candidates are supposed to step up and support the winning candidate, the Sanders supporters did have to wait until he returned from buying another house and then writing a book for him to reappear and mention support for Hillary Clinton. In the meantime, his campaign continued to send out emails to their supporters, asking for donations for the few cherry-picked candidates that Sanders believed in; but no mention of Hillary. This was yet another set of actions that demonstrated his personal standing for self, only and his intention to continue to divide the party.

However, the ‘proof’ of how fellow Democrats feel came as a result of their very first assault on the system. As reported in an LA Times article with the headline:

“L.A. voters didn’t just turn their backs on Berniecrat progressivism, they went positively Clintonesque”

This area is one of the most liberal in the country and if the Berniecrats lost at such a high percentage rate here, one might conjecture that they aren’t going to ‘win’ anywhere else.

Philosophy of Party Unity

The existence of the current administration has brought about a mass change in the way liberals view their lives. From protests to demonstrations, many who never came forward before, are making their voices heard. These are a combination of people, joining together to denounce the policies and it is anticipated that it is just the beginning.

But after all is said and done, there is only one philosophy and attitude that must be taken to try to unite the Democratic Party. All must be invited to the table to talk and express their opinions and desires. However, all must also understand that we can’t get everything that we want. We must listen, learn and then make conciliations.

Democrats make up a vast and diverse group of people and respect must be given to everyone. One group, no matter what their position, cannot expect to get all that they are asking for, but everyone must walk away from the table knowing that they got a ‘win’.

To expect anything else is unrealistic. This is how it works in life, love, business and politics. The danger of the extreme Tea Party Left is that, thus far, they haven’t expressed any interest in working with the vast majority of Democrats, only demanding that their agenda be adopted. Unless they change and accept their invitation as part of a group, they are destined to exist at the kid’s table, while the rest get to work.