extremist in health and politics, etc

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This piece arrived today, perhaps from New Zealand. The details have flaws, the message is accurate. Enjoy:

 

 

"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in pursuit ofjustice is no virtue."As new presidential nominee Barry Goldwater uttered these words at theRepublican National Convention in 1964, Richard Nixon was sitting on stagebehind him. Mr. Nixon, the master-pragmatist, was horrified. Those words, hethought to himself, will cost us the election. Nixon was an astute observer- & reinforcer - of the moral climate of his time.Goldwater had been plagued throughout the campaign by allegations of"extremism" - & this was his answer: in effect, "Yes! Proudly!"No one, alas, would dare say that today. "Extremism" is never defined,merely equated with mad, bad people - the Taleban, the IRA, the Ku Klux Klan... Everyone scrambles to occupy the "middle ground," to be seen to be"moderate" - heedless of the contradiction that they are being extreme intheir moderation.Oddly, this is so in the realm of political ideas only. As I've had occasionto observe previously:"In the matter of one's health, it wouldn't occur to anyone to say, 'Idesire to be healthy. I wish to avoid disease. But this is a simplistic,extremist way of approaching the question which overlooks the universal needto compromise & settle for something in between. I ought to temper my desirefor excellent health by making sure I get sick some of the time.' Onedoesn't say, 'I like my butter to be moderately rancid, my eggs to bemoderately rotten, my meat to be moderately putrefied, my vegetables to bemoderately decomposed, with the degree of rancidness, etc., to be determinedby consensus' - in order to avoid charges of 'extremism.' One doesn't say,'I would really prefer my shoes to be fully comfortable, but that's acrackpot position which I shall avoid by seeking out shoes that aremoderately ill-fitting.' In buying a car one does not feel constrained, inthe interests of striking a balance, to insist that it have flaws. One doesnot encourage one's children to be stupid as a mitigatinginfluence on their intelligence. Etc., etc.."Common sense makes us extremists most of the time, thankfully. The issue isnot whether one is extreme, but what it is one is extreme about. Toparaphrase Goldwater, it is no vice to be extreme about the good; it's novirtue to be moderate about the bad. It's no vice to be extreme in thepromotion & protection of reason & freedom; it's no virtue to be moderate indealing with terrorists & dictators. It's an issue of integrity. Extremismis - taking one's values seriously, upholding them consistently, & notcompromising them. That is what the good requires, now more than ever. Itwon't do to say, "I'll refrain from initiating force some of the time, but,for the sake of balance, initiate it at other times." That would be on a parwith saying to the Taleban, "6000 murders was excessive - 3000 would havebeen OK."Ayn Rand put it best:"If an uncompromising stand is to be smeared as 'extremism,' then that smearis directed at any devotion to values, any loyalty to principles, anyprofound conviction, any consistency, any steadfastness, any passion, anydedication to an unbreached, inviolate truth - any man of integrity."Count me as an extremist!

"You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great." - Les Brown

 

lou & dr. bob wynman, lake tahoe, USA