The Inevitability of Extremism in American Society

Several U.S. Democratic Party leaders have announced support for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as someone capable of opposing Donald Trump in the upcoming November election. They see Biden as a moderate candidate, able to attract the majority of Americans who do not support the liberal extremism that another Democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders, currently represents, and who do not want a second Trump term because of his policies, which are supported by the extremely conservative.

American society is heading toward extremism for reasons that are increasingly salient in this new century. The conservative extremism under which the United States has been living will be offset by a liberal extremism that opposes it.

Historically, the United States was formed by European, Anglo-Saxon Protestants who engaged in violence and murder against those who legitimately possessed the land — whom they referred to as “Red Indians.” Those European immigrants then engaged in buying large numbers of Africans and enslaving them for centuries. These were the same European immigrants who had revolted violently against the British monarchy to establish their own country, the 13 states that were originally British colonies along the East Coast.

Despite the cherished U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1789, religious and racial discrimination persisted in the United States through the end of the 20th century. Until the beginning of the last century, Catholic immigrants to America met violence and death. Similarly, racial discrimination against African Americans continued in different arenas of life and work until the 1960s, when laws were passed to prohibit discrimination against them.

In the last century, the Rev. Jesse Jackson failed to win support from the Democratic Party as its presidential candidate because he was a black American, despite his Christian stance and his family’s deep roots in America.

In 1988, presidential candidate Michael Dukakis lost to his competitor, George H.W. Bush, because a large segment of Americans questioned his patriotism. Dukakis was the son of recent Greek immigrants, and his family lacked deep roots in America and did not descend from Anglo-Saxon Protestants. John Kennedy was the first Catholic president of the United States (1961-1963); there has not been another Catholic president since then.

Thus, it was a tremendous shock when Barack Hussein Obama, an African American and the son of a Muslim immigrant, made it to the White House. It was a shock to those who can be described as American fundamentalists. Their reactions equaled those of the mixed majority that elected Obama — a group that included the white left, youth, educated people and artists, as well as most African American voters and large blocks of new immigrants from Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. So too, Trump’s election dramatically reversed the shock that came when Obama won.

The American fundamentalists who enslaved and owned black people found themselves under Obama’s leadership, as he led the greatest country in the world. These fundamentalists established conservative religious organizations, some of which discriminated against any other religion or Christian sect. Meanwhile, immigration from the Islamic world has significantly increased in America over the past decades; in addition, a majority of immigrants from Latin America are Catholic.

Extremism, prevalent in today’s American society, will not diminish in the near future. Rather, its power may grow during the coming election and beyond. It is worth remembering that extremism also leads to the use of guns, as evidenced by acts of domestic terrorism against religious, racial and ethnic minorities that have already taken place in several states.

In America, the right to bear arms is irreversible. The rate of gun purchases has risen in recent years, which suggests that we might expect more violence in the near future.

The Democratic Party won a majority in the House of Representatives during the 2018 midterms, which was an indicator of important changes taking place in American society.

The Democratic and Republican Parties both saw their popular bases retreat from what the parties’ traditional leadership desired. And now, during the Democratic Party primaries in several states, something remarkable is happening: Many Muslims and Arab Americans are voting for a Jewish candidate: Sanders.

This is a declaration to both parties: Muslim and Arab Americans do not choose their candidates based on religious or racial expression. Rather, their votes are based on domestic and international political considerations.