I believe that the far-right and the far-left can be equally insane - but there's no question that in the first years of the Obama administration, the far-right has been far crazier. In part, this comes from parties being out of power - without the responsibility of governing to ground them, the activists and the ideologues take over.
John AvlonThe American people are smart. They've gotten sick of the predictable hyperpartisan talking points and canned anger.
John AvlonThe two parties are still more polarized than ever before and the rise of partisan media is an important reason for it.
John AvlonIf you only take offense when the president of your party is compared to Hitler, then you're part of the problem.
John AvlonWe need to punch back against the extremes of both the left and the right and define the terms of the debate ourselves.
John AvlonWe cannot hope to change human nature. There will always be cranks and conspiracy theorists among us. But we can try to improve things - we don't have to accept the debasement of civil discourse or civic decline. We can take steps to ensure that the lunatic fringe remains on the fringe and stops bleeding into the base and then poisoning the mainstream
John Avlon