It seems like the general consensus on this forum (and among the general public to a certain extent) is that the GOP is a party of radicals under the control of such people like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Paul Ryan. The GOP is the party of "birthers" and racists, so it appears. The GOP wants to push granny off the cliff and end welfare forever. Nevermind that not a single "radical conservative" holds any position of authority within the GOP House or Senate leadership.
Taken objectivley, applying these labels to Republicans seems pretty ignorant. However, once we compare the "radical-ness" of the GOP to the Democrats assumptions like those made above become just plain stupid.
The most radical presidents in history--Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, and FDR--have all been Democrats. The only "radical" president to be a Republican was probably Abraham Lincoln. Let us not forget, either, that extremley radical candidates always seem to find their way into Democratic primaries--Howard Dean, Al Sharpton, Dennis Kuchinich, and Jesse Jackson. Did I forget to mention that the Senate's only self-described "socialist" cacuses with the Democrats?
So, since its true that the Republicans are no more radical then the Democrats...why do people insist that they are? Is the left really just that blind-sighted? Has the liberal media pulled the wool over the eyes of most Americans? What is it?
I'll give you Wilson being extreme, but more to do with his racism and less to do with his policies. FDR wasn't extreme. Jackson was a genocidal maniac, but the parties were completely different back then. Dean isn't extreme, Kucinich and Jackson are debatable, and Al Sharpton is a douche, but not extreme. And the GOP isn't filled with sane people; look at Alan Keyes, Tom Tancredo, Pat Robertson, and Ron Paul. Socialism is considered to be mainstream everywhere except America and a few right-wing dictatorships (and even they pretend to be left-wing).
And the liberal media, like most boogeymen, is something of a myth. It exists, but is too hooked on sensationalism to have as much of an impact as the propaganda machines of FOX and 99% of talk radio.
You appear to have it right on the money.
Now, at the risk of sounding like someone who has no idea what they're talking about, I suppose to define "extreme" you would have to look at the political demographics of your country. In countries like Canada and Britain, the Republican Party would be seen as quite extreme. The United States is very much a "centrist" country, and both parties are accused of being extreme by each other. However, because we have a two-party system, consequentially the two major parties subsume different ideological "factions", especially the Democratic Party, which is composed of people who consider themselves populists, libertarians, liberals, conservatives, moderates, Third Way, socialists, centrists etc., but are all established on the left side of the spectrum. The same is mostly true for the Republican Party. The bottom line here is, point-of-view determines what can be considered "extreme".
Personally, I consider the views of national GOP leaders to be quite extreme, but there are moderate Republicans as there are moderate Democrats.
