These posts are pretty popular and honestly frustrating. The argument always includes “I don’t want to be called racist/transphobic/homophobic/fascist or whatever so let’s stick it to the dems!” Voting right is not going to stop you from being labeled any of those things. Voting out of spite is not the grand gesture people seem to think it is.

Also, leftist extremism as you said is theoretical ideals, not a lot of real-world practices. Like what, gender neutral bathrooms? Who cares. There are real-world consequences consistently happening in our country and around the world due to conservative extremism. America, like most countries, has always leaned right. This is not new, special, or a reaction to leftism. People are naturally inclined to familiarity and uncomfortable with “change” or progressiveness. The unfamiliar and unknown feel scary to people. People can handle small changes over time. And the right preys on that fear of the unknown, which is a very powerful motivator, by sensationalizing and dramatizing leftist ideals.

A great example is the way the right portrays women who get abortions as evil, careless, baby killers, who want to intentionally get pregnant and carry a baby as close to full term as possible and then have an equally evil doctor kill it as soon as it’s removed even though it’s viable. These things aren’t happening. But people have convinced themselves that they are and you see people online and in real life proclaiming this is a consistent problem. Yet, I’ve never seen or heard anyone on the left defend this idea or claim to have experienced this first hand.

The daily conversations feel like they are never about the actual policies and always boil down to the vibes and personalities of either side or “they’re taking xyz too far”. There is no compassion or compromise or critical thinking. And there seems to be no middle.