Radicals versus Extremists!
The word radical, derived from the latin word "radix",(like "radish"), means 'of or pertaining to' the root, foundational or fundamental aspect of a thing. In sociopolitical terms, that means, pertaining to the root cause or reason behind something. Our own radical American experiment in democracy is founded on the U.S. constitution which is rooted in the long history of struggle for fundamental human rights going back, in England, to before the Magna Carta, and in world history, pre-dates Christ.
In fact, Jesus, the ultimate radical, was certainly right in the middle of this struggle, and is without doubt the most radical person to lead any radical movement in history. That radical movement was based on Jesus' most radical teachings like, "Love your Enemy" and "Forgiveness" even for those who seek to destroy you.
That is radical, it cuts(money changers they are called by Christians but they were merchants selling doves and lambs for sacrifice inside the Temple! right to the root of the matter.
An extremist on the other hand is one who is far removed from the root, fundamentals of a philosophy. An example is when extremists claim to be killing others for God! There is no religion that has that in their fundamental beliefs. (Maybe Satanism?)
Judaism and Islam can both be quoted out of context and made to sound like that but certainly Jesus' words can never be twisted in that way. The Prince of Peace clearly believed in turning the other cheek, (except when it came to capitalists abusing the system. He kicked the holy crap out of the Mammonists, (capitalists), that were taking over the Temple! The Christian bible calls them "money changers" but they were merchants selling doves and lambs to religious Hebrews for sacrifice, but they were doing it inside the Temple! Jesus claimed they were desecrating his Father's House. The whole two day action by Jesus is recorded in the Hebraic Book of Law, The Talmud by an eyewitness, a rabbi who watched Jesus for two days at the Temple. I believe this is what got him crucified. He physically beat and humiliated these rich merchants in front of their religious customers at the busiest time of their busiest day of the year! He publicly accused them of evil and corruption inside the Temple! He acted as a vigilante judge, jury and jailer.
(Also, he pretty much condemned all rich folks to hell - because there is no way a camel, or a rope, can fit through the eye of a needle.... just sayin').
Now, even though one can imagine Muslims and Jews being misled to believe such an extreme lie, one can never provide any support for the argument for going to war for Jesus.
That old Vietnam War mentality of "Kill a Commie for Christ", or the even more extreme idea of "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out", can never be construed as a Christian attitude, but it is by extremists. So if you believe that the U.S. military is on God's side your are indeed an extremist who is far removed from Jesus' radical teachings. If you are someone who sides with Capitalism against the radical notion of democratic control "of the people, by the people and for the people, then you are an extremist who is far removed from the U.S. Constitution. As We the people are getting ready to teach the right wing extremists who are doing the bidding for the fascists who seek to destroy democracy and our radical constitution. These extremists must not be allowed to subvert our constitution this way. This is why we must Occupy!
I bring you this article by John Nichols, a native of Wisconsin, from the 'Nation':
Wisconsin Rises Up Against Walker
http://www.thenation.com/article/165874/wisconsin-people-power?rel=emailNation
What does democracy look like? How about this: a governor, swept into office on the GOP wave of 2010 with a financial assist from the billionaire Koch brothers, pivots immediately from moderate talk about job creation to radical austerity that divides his state more than any in the Union. He attacks the collective bargaining rights of public workers and teachers. When hundreds of thousands of citizens rally to oppose his agenda, the governor and his allies respond by attempting to bar protests in the Capitol. They reject their state’s tradition of open and transparent government, dismiss criticisms from the opposition—even from moderates in their own party—and begin gerrymandering districts and changing election rules, actions Common Cause and the League of Women Voters recognize as assaults on voting rights. Faced with a serious threat to basic rights and democracy, citizens organize a grassroots campaign to recall and remove the governor, the lieutenant governor, the State Senate majority leader and key legislators.
About the Author
John Nichols
John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written the Beat since 1999. His posts have been circulated...
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Wisconsin Recall Drive More Popular Than GOP Presidential Candidates—Combined (States,Conservatives and the American Right, Politics)
Add up all the votes cast for all the candidates in the Republican caucuses and primaries of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and they still fall short of the number of signatures on petitions seeking the removal of Scott Walker.
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Wisconsin 'John Doe' Probe: What Did Walker Know? When Did He Know It? (Gubernatorial Campaigns and Elections, Labor, Campaigns and Elections, States,Conservatives and the American Right, Economy,Politics)
As two more aides to Scott Walker are charged in “John Doe” probe that reveals massive illegal fundraising, the anti-labor governor heads toward a recall election with a big new headache.
The task is daunting: it requires collecting more than a million signatures in the dead of winter, and it must overcome a multimillion-dollar attack campaign, along with daily condemnations from local, state and national talk-radio and the Fox News echo chamber. Yet in villages and inner-city neighborhoods, grandmothers with clipboards and high school seniors engaging for the first time in politics brave the snow and cold. They put up with catcalls from Rush Limbaugh listeners who have been instructed that they are nothing but “union stooges.” On the day the documents are due, the people march to the state elections office with brass bands, banners and petitions bearing almost
2 million names—the largest portion of a state’s population ever to demand the removal of a governor and his lieutenants.
This is not progressive populist fantasy. This is happening right now in Wisconsin, where the January 17 deadline for filing recall petitions saw activists from the grassroots group United Wisconsin and their allies file more than a million petition signatures—almost twice the required number—to force a recall of Governor Scott Walker, 845,000 signatures to recall Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, more than 20,000 to recall Senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald and another 60,000 to recall three of Fitzgerald’s fellow GOP senators. “Scott Walker and his supporters tried to demean and marginalize recall circulators, but in Wisconsin winter, an army of more than 30,000 Wisconsin-born and -bred recall volunteers took to street corners, malls, places of worship, dinner tables and sidewalks to take their state back,” declared United Wisconsin board member Ryan Lawler. Even newspapers that had endorsed Walker (and opposed the recall) marveled at the accomplishment with front-page shouting headlines like One Million Signatures! The remarkable response to a GOP governor whose anti-labor and pro-corporate agenda in most ways parallels those of the Republicans who would be president and who lead Congress offers an indication of how people-powered uprisings can resist what progressives of another era decried as “the money power.” It also holds out the prospect of a new politics that could yet change this year’s electoral calculus.
From its beginning in February 2011, the Wisconsin uprising has combined radicalism and practicality, massing in the streets, upsetting the legislative process, fighting in the courts and calling leaders to account. The nearly three-week occupation of the State Capitol during the fight over Walker’s anti-labor proposals set the stage for Occupy Wall Street. But Walker’s extremism, along with his dismissive attitude toward legal and legislative standards, always made it clear he’d be the target of a recall drive. Indeed, it seemed as if the recall process—which allows citizens to petition for a new election in the middle of a term—was designed for Walker. When Robert La Follette, the great Progressive leader of the early twentieth century, was campaigning to amend the Wisconsin Constitution to allow for recalls, his literature declared, “By the recall, a faithless public official may be retired without waiting for the evil to be fully consummated…. He will face the immediate dishonor he deserves.”
Walker won’t face “immediate” dishonor. Wisconsin law requires recall campaigners to wait a year before filing their petitions, and the governor has hired a legal team to delay his accountability moment. When it does come, Democrats will need a candidate (several legislators and former statewide candidates are running, but many activists hold out hope that a reluctant former US Senator Russ Feingold will reconsider his decision not to) and a renewal of the labor-farm-community coalitions that formed to recall two GOP state senators last year. Among supporters, there’s little doubt the movement will build. And little doubt that it will spread.
In fact, that’s already happened. In November, Ohio unions and their allies used another progressive reform tool, the initiative, to qualify a referendum vote that rejected Governor John Kasich’s variation on Walker’s anti-labor law by a 61-to-39 margin. Mainers used an initiative to overturn a right-wing assault on same-day voter registration. There are active movements to recall and remove other right-wing governors, including Michigan’s Rick Snyder. Common Cause is pushing to hold statewide referendums across the country this fall on amending the Constitution to get corporate money out of politics; Move to Amend is promoting local referendums on the issue.
Media attention will continue to focus overwhelmingly on the presidential and Congressional elections. But the most dramatic stories are not going to be the ones that happen on the schedules of politicians and pundits. They will be the people-powered revolts against extremism and money-drenched politics. Just as the popular protests that started in Wisconsin spread far beyond its borders, so the recalls have the potential to inspire a new era of direct democracy that could yet realize La Follette’s promise of a century ago: “the people shall rule.”
