By Tripp Henderson | Staff Writer
Defund the police, abolish ICE, completely get rid of the Senate, free incarcerated individuals, dismantle the Department of War and end capitalism as we know it.
No, these aren’t the winning selections from NYU’s annual Stupid Hackathon, where competitors try to come up with the worst ideas possible; rather, they’re the Democratic Socialists of America’s platform agenda.
It’s only fair that I acknowledge the absurdity of extreme far-right politics, too. Take, for example, anti-Semitic conspiracies from the likes of Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes that the U.S. government is controlled by Israel.
Or the “Great Replacement” theory, held by some extremists, that essentially argues that white, native-born populations are being replaced by immigrants. I wonder, do white nationalists know that America was built by immigrants?
While these ideas seem absurd and outlandish to most, a growing base on the left and right is becoming desensitized to them, or worse, outright supporting them. Consider pivotal Democratic Socialist wins in primary elections and a MAGA movement that seems to be pushing farther right every day.
While it may be comedic to make fun of how crazy these ideas sound, they have serious implications for our country. I argue that radicalism endangers our country and advocate for political moderation instead.
My first argument for political moderation rests on epistemological humility: the intellectual virtue that human knowledge and comprehension have limits.
In Plato’s Apology, Socrates says that wisdom is acknowledging one’s own ignorance. Radicalism denies any notion that there is fallibility to human thinking and says, “I am right, you are wrong, and therefore immediate and extreme change must be instituted.”
Moderation affirms Socratic ignorance by not diving full-fledged into any single ideology, while radicalism assumes one path forward and never considers the frailty of that belief system.
One could try to argue against moderation by pointing to the life of Jesus. Christ lived a radical life, and he calls us to do the same, but he never calls us to a lifestyle of political radicalism.
The radicalism of Jesus and that of politics are non sequiturs. Christ never put campaign signs in his yard or stuck a campaign bumper sticker to his car; he didn’t knock on doors and deliver unsolicited voting recommendations and he never held a political office or attended a rally.
Furthermore, Christ, as a divine, all-knowing being, is an exception to epistemological humility and is not governed by the errors and limits of human thinking.
Some also believe radicalism was necessary for important social activism like the civil rights movements. To this, I would say the beginnings of these movements are rooted in the curious, doubtful nature of intellectual humility, rather than modern extremism.
Epistemic curiosity actually acts as a check for corruption and injustice by exercising restraint in treating an assumption as absolute truth. It doesn’t discourage change, but it does discourage immediate, extreme change without careful examination.
I don’t mean to say that activism does not have a place in our country; it does. The issue is when radicalism becomes the whole, not the part, and I worry modern politics is heading that way. Our nation must find a balance.
The DSA website reads, “You have no debt. You don’t need health insurance. You don’t pay a mortgage or have a landlord, because comfortable housing is a human right. Your retirement is publicly funded.”
This is the promised land radicalism claims to provide. As a college student with basically no money and attending Baylor University, a world with no student debt sounds like the land of Canaan, but to say this is the end that a socialist society arrives at is a lie. To even try and reach that goal would require the dismantling of America as we know it, and socialists aren’t even afraid to say that.
Influencers, the great ailment of our generation, spout off extreme ideologies on our algorithms to take captive our society through social media, and unfortunately, it is often the most extreme voices that get the most views.
Radicalism is all around us, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Once it captures you, it pits you against the people you love and makes Thanksgiving dinners warfare. It divides our nation, separates families and friends and breaks down our republic using the facade of a “better future.”
I don’t intend to paint America as a country full of crazy extremists; I actually think it is quite the opposite, and most people are reasonable and fair people, unlike Tucker Carlson and his buddies.
I believe that behind the society spiraling out of control that we see in the media is people longing for moderation. Citizens who are tired of extreme politicians who don’t represent them, and just want to be able to sit down at dinner on holidays and get along again.
Our country is very diverse, but we can all coexist, and that will require sacrifice. We are all part of a greater whole, and for that whole to flourish, we have to moderate our own desires. Political moderation is not just a civic responsibility, but a path to unity.
