Axar.az presents an article, "1892 And The Radical Left” by John Samuel Tieman.

“The Democratic Party's main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. On the news, I hear MAGA types talk about “the radical left” and “the leftist deep state agenda”. You hear stuff like this all the time. I could easily cite twenty more examples. There's a lot of talk about “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” by which MAGA means liberals who Trump makes crazy. Actually, such extreme statements by MAGA are deranged. And I can prove it. So let's think about “the radical left” and “the leftist deep state agenda”.

About “the radical left”. I'm a minor elected official, a city council member from the Midwest. My ward is arguably the most liberal in Missouri. My constituents are, to name just a few, school teachers, working moms, big-hatted Black church ladies, middle-class Catholics without ten kids, scientists, engineers, sculptors, Hasidim, and the occasional Republican. Two U. S. Poets Laureate have lived in my ward. A British friend once described me as “an old-fashioned leftist”. I'm a social democrat who conserves the traditions, values, and norms of representative democracy. I like old school conservatives. They temper me. And they have their place. I want a stingy old-school Republican to be in charge of my pension plan.

I hear talk of “the leftist deep state agenda”. OK. Here's this leftist's agenda. In my year and a half in office, I have publicly considered, or voted upon, municipal bonds, building codes, liquor licenses, parking, painting stripes on a street, zoning, the purchase of new trash cans, pensions, personnel evaluations, and, of course, potholes. I have voted in favor of building a hotel, two big-box stores, small businesses, renovations to our civic buildings, and a large mixed-use apartment building with room for small businesses. I am pro-business and have the voting record to prove it. I work to combine environmental issues and development. Never once did the funding of Hamas come up. Not once. I'm not even sure where the local Hamas recruiting station is. And I'm a leftist, a social democrat. But to understand my office is to understand that, on a work-a-day basis, my socialism is next to irrelevant.

My city council is non-partisan, so I am really not sure of the political philosophies of my colleagues. I suspect that I am the farthest left. This leftist is also a 75-year-old flag-waving Vietnam veteran who belongs to the VFW. I'm a Catholic who prays the rosary. I come from a family of Republicans. In 1964, I championed Barry Goldwater in a high school debate. I'm a retired teacher. I support the American Federation Of Teachers, AFL/CIO. If we were in the United Kingdom, I'd be on the “Third Way” wing of the Labour Party. I admire Tony Blair. I don't know any illegal aliens. I'm not violent: I've never raised my hand to anyone, although I did volunteer for the Army and did serve in Vietnam.

Karoline Leavitt is right about one thing. I have a criminal profile. Fifty years ago, I was arrested for possessing eight grams of marijuana. A party stash of the weed. I was given a suspended sentence. I also have had traffic tickets over the last fifty years. Once our lawn grew too high. I was given a citation for being a “nuisance”. I resent being labeled a “nuisance”. I prefer “criminal”. “Criminal” is more pirate, more Don Corleone.

Old pinko that I am, I never thought I would be considered by some to be conservative. But here I am. I believe in the republic. I believe in democracy. I practice the often unspoken norms of governance. These norms of governance are inseparable from moral goodness, because what arises from such decorum is a platform for respectful dialogue. I try to practice a dialogue that is informed by, to list just a few of my personal heroes and sheroes, Martin Buber, Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, Harvey Milk, Cesar Chavez, Thurgood Marshall, Dorothy Day, Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan. Oh, and St. Thomas More – Did I mention I'm Catholic?

MAGA has gone so far to the right that they aren't conservative anymore. They're either fascist or something akin to fascist. They lack a discerning vision of the normal political spectrum. Their description of the American left is deranged. I'm on the left. The majority of my constituents are on that continuum from liberal Democrat to social democrat. How “radical left” is that? Were we in Great Britain, we'd be a safe Labour district. The first Labour Member Of Parliament was James Keir Hardy. He was elected in 1892.