True, however the extremists on the left are mostly entitled young twats - obnoxious purists who have the luxury of being shrill and entrenched because their lives are underwritten by their rich parents. Eventually, most of them will grow out of it. It’s also worth mentioning that although they’re vocal and do great street theater, they don’t have any real power. Team Right, on the other hand is some scary ass mothafuckas. For all of their bleating like some prion disease infected sheep about democracy and freedoms, they would be perfectly happy living under a totalitarian regime.

I’ll add this to your list on the minus side: the American education system does not focus on teaching critical thinking skills. I’ve been teaching college undergraduate students for the past few years. Before that, I taught graduate students in a New Media photojournalism program. The lack of critical thinking skills is astonishing at every level. The younger students nurtured on screens since infancy are a product of the digital age so I can’t place all the blame on American failure in that department. But America has always had disdain for intellect, over which it’s traditionally valued brawn and religiosity.

Anyway, too much of a conversation for my thumbs in between running errands. You’d be fun to grab a pint with!