In my line of work, most people tend to be too busy to be extreme on issues.

Many dislike the taxes taken out of their pay but are grateful for the government programs that take care of elderly parents and/or wayward relatives and free them from having to give family obligatory aid.

Some have family fighting in the war and others have relatives that came home to accusations of being “baby killers”. But most care more about who won some sporting event or if the rain is going to put the cramps on the weekend’s plans.

After 9/11, while most people went back to their old ways, there arose in my life two very vocal groups, who on the surface seem as far apart as can be.

Yet to anyone who has ever heard them, the similarities are eerily familiar.

BUSH HATER

Both sides hate Bush and blame him for everything that has gone wrong and give him little credit for the things that has gone right.

The Hard Left hates Bush for a whole host of reasons; the primary being is that Bush is NOT a Liberal. Bush is pro-life, pro-business, pro-military and the most unforgiving of all sins (according to the Liberals); he doesn’t govern by polls.

The Hard Right hates Bush because is a REPUBLICAN, NOT a 3^rd party absolutist. Bush is a businessman who wheels, deals, and COMPROMISES to succeed in his goals…like winning the war, appointing non-activist judges to the courts and keeping tax cuts that will boost our economy. And while they appreciate Bush not governing by the polls of the WHOLE nation, they are just as angry as the Left because Bush also refuses to govern by the polls of the hard extreme right.

WAR LIES

Both sides say that they believe that Bush lied to the American people about Iraq.

The Left thinks the lie began AFTER their Clinton had left the WH and had no access to special information and BEFORE the other Clinton became a senator and had access to special information.

The Right thinks the lie began AFTER the 2004 election when Bush could no longer run and got worst when Bush nominated Miers to the SCOTUS.

Both sides want to cut and run.

The Left claims it is because of the 3,000 troops that have died and to keep that number from growing, they want to cut the funding for equipment and for reinforcements. They also want to make the deaths of those heroic men and women mean absolutely nothing by declaring the war is a mistake and worthless.

The Right claims to want Americans to come home and fight the real enemy…Mexican cheap labor. Iraq had nothing to do with us…Islamic terror in the Middle East has nothing to do with us….in other words, the war was a mistake and the deaths of 3000 of America’s finest was for…nothing.

GOVERNMENT

Both sides want government to stay out of their lives—except…

The Left believes that the people are smart and moral enough to make their own decisions but not intelligent or resourceful enough to deal with the consequences of bad decisions. They believe that equality means fairness even if the government has to unfairly take from those who earned to give to those that have not. They are like the college student who thinks their parents have a duty to support their education but no right to tell them how to spend the support checks.

The Right thinks the only obstacle to success is government interference—until some relative needs help and a government social program frees them from having to provide any personal aid. They think government spending is getting out of hand—except with the wall, THAT, they don’t even want to know what the price tag is. The Right laments government regulations and labor laws that tries to tell a man how to run his business—except when it comes to deciding to use cheap Mexican labor to remain profitable.

In other words…the Right is like that college kid that graduated with a degree and not only wants to decide how to spend his money but wants to tell his parents what to do with theirs.

IMPEACH BUSH

Both sides have called for the impeachment of Bush.

The Left has a whole list of reasons why our 43th president should be impeached, but mostly it is because he is not a Democrat. If TWO nations’ tyrannical governments had been taken down and those countries had been given their own Bill of Rights, female apartheid ended, a wartime economy had been turned around and became one of the best in near 3 decades during a Liberal administration, they’d be fitting Mount Rushmore for an addition.

The Right also has a nice long list of Bush’s “crimes”, but mainly, it is because the above accomplishments are just not enough…Bush has failed to stop a speeding bullet (illegal immigration), fly over tall buildings (cut pork spending and government programs), and transformed himself into a well spoken actor (Reagan.)

CLEVER LINES

To be honest, the Left DID start it. When Bad Billy told the world that he didn’t REALLY have sex in the Oval Office with that Intern because it was ORAL, every guy who has been told by his mate that type of sex is above and beyond—got the distinction.

The Left uses words like “choice” and “rights” to allow women to have an abortion that will get men off the hook. They pull out all kinds of cards…race cards that gives preferential treatment to people based on…race…gender cards that imply that women cannot compete with men unless helped by a Government who is making up for the fact that there are some men who think that women are unable to compete…and the all time great dissent ender…”freedom of speech” card that allows them to say what they want to say but disallows anyone from disagreeing with them.

The Right had to sit there for 8 years and watch the spin doctors on the Left maneuver public opinion…but they’ve made up with it with words like “Amnesty” to describe a 12 year probation period and $2000 fine for people who came here with little more than the shirt on their backs…and “Invasion” for an immigration flow that has been going on for decades. Like their Lefty brethren, they also have a method of controlling dissenters …it’s the dreaded (gasp) “C” word. Anyone that differs is accused of not being a Conservative.

ESTABLISHMENT

The Left used to call those in authority “the Establishment”. Having become “them”, the distinction now is between the “bright, well educated, sophisticated” authorities and the “hicks” from cowboy country occupying the highest office in the land.

The Right has their own ex-lawyers now talk show authority figures who all went to the right Ivy league colleges and anyone who disagrees with their point of view has to show similar or superior credentials to be taken seriously.

In a remake of the old 60s rebellion of the Establishment, both consider it a right and a duty to challenge and reject those in authority. Anyone failing to do so has been “brainwashed”.

The avoidance of this mental manipulation is so vital, that it supercedes loyalty; a fundamental trait of unions (Liberal) and church & family (Conservative).

EXTREMES ARE EXACTLY THAT

They may say different things but the end result is the same. Both have no room in their tent for anyone but absolutists.