Reg said:  "I pay as much attention to the "far left" as I do to the "far right" which is to say pretty much none. What I would say about the far left is their impact is essentially nonexistent in comparison to what the supposed mainstream right has been able to accomplish. When you have a party that appears to be able to eliminate reality from their voter's worlds...well...you have a problem of epic proportions.

I'm not trying to give far leftists a pass I just think that their societal impact is just to be a punch line to a lot of jokes. They are not winning hearts and minds and on the political spectrum they sit as the least impactful bunch of the entire lot. They don't institute policy, they don't have a loud voice in the media, and they don't even have much impact on the Democratic party...we primarily elect centrists that run the party, "

Reg,

I really enjoyed your post and got a lot of good thinking out of it.  I suspect you are correct in saying that the nearer right has successfully had a bigger impact on general society in recent years, but I would not discount the impact of the more intolerant Left.  It's creeping in, and quickly.  Much of this is a reaction to Donald Trump, something the Right should have foreseen.  I have (fairly progressive) family, my vegan brother and his wife, who live in Portland, Oregon.  Even they talk about the absolutely insane and insidious effect that the Left is starting to have there.  Coming from them, those opinions carry some weight for me.