From NBC, a sign that for some people, extremism has a payoff:

“Though his approval rating may be slipping nationally, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz received an overwhelming nod of confidence from conservative activists on Saturday with a decisive victory in the Values Voter straw poll.”

It is long past time for anyone who may be able to influence these lunatics to speak up: put the Confederate flags away (better yet, burn them), get used to the Affordable Care Act, get used to a president who isn’t 100% white. We need people like Colin Powell, Bob Dole, George H. W. Bush, and so on to speak out early and often. Do these people really not care?

Instead, the flames of extremism are being fanned every day by the right-wing media empire. I’m truly astonished at how far the right wing has gone. It seems crazy to compare the year 2013 to some truly dangerous times, like the Civil War or World War II. But I’m not so sure anymore.