NY-16: Bowman's taking it well.

[The Magistrate]

68. Quite True, Sir

And certainly Democratic voters would have more patience with the 'fringe left' if it ceased attacking Democrats. This feeling is aggravated by the tendency of fringe figures to proclaim they represent the base of the party. It annoys the people the Party can actually count on to turn out and vote for its candidates every time.

Through modern political history there runs a red thread of those furthest to the left taking for their chief foe the center-left, rather than the far right. Radical aims can be achieved only when the whole left is united by radical leadership, and so until such unity is achieved, radical leadership sees little point in fighting the far right. Sometimes this course comes with an extra spice: the idea that actual rule by the far right will drive the masses towards radical leadership and ignite a revolution they will lead. A precondition for this is destruction of center-left parties, and as this is an aim of the right as well, the far left will happily cooperate with the far right in attaining this goal.


"They believed nothing they could not prove, and could prove anything they believed."