Edward, permit me to intercede with evidence that counters mere opinion and staunch philosophy. Let me be pragmatic.

Having served for a decade in the California Legislature (as a top policy analyst), I watched as the bills authored by the more extreme members on each side of the aisle — we had no socialists that I know of — were those that set the agenda for ensuing policy discussions. The results invariably conformed to the more extreme members’ aspirations and calculated expectations … and these members were those elected to higher office. Middle of the road legislation — pragmatic, you might call it — got passed, too, incremental, piecemeal mucking around that bettered no one’s lives except those administering existing laws based on outdated policies. Its authors stayed in office purely on inertia, hugging the political median.

Delusion is a social construct; as McLuhan remarked, “We are all goldfish inside the bowl.” It’s a term not to be tossed around lightly. I’m a pragmatist, too, and I believe that in the current historical moment, the extreme politicians in America — who are hardly extreme in global terms, let’s be honest — have better answers for what’s to be done than the anonymous politicos who want us to simply stay put, so they can, too. Theirs is a delusion.