The Far Left, Should we be worried?

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This is something I am beginning to wonder about nowadays. We always hear of the vilified far right and the threat it poses to European countries, which in many ways I think is legitimate. But do we need to be worried about the far left as well. I am thinking maybe. In France we have seen the rise of Jean Luc Melanchon, who in this year's election got 20% of the vote, and may do much better next time and potentially win. I am worried about the ideas promoted by people like him, he is proposing a 100% income tax on people earning over 1 million and that could have detrimental effects. But what is more concerning is that he is gaining so much support and maybe if elected, people like him could tear apart the country.

Nobody in their right mind is going to support a 100% income tax.
As soon as the far left start talking about denial of civil rights and mass deportations for people who don't look like us, or love someone of their same sex, I'll take their threat seriously.

Of the Three Horsemen - Melenchon, Corbyn, and Sanders - Melenchon was by far the scariest. His 100% tax was actually something like €350k, not €1m - even worse! He was also a major isolationist and an anti-regionalist. Strong environmental credentials but basically just wanted to supercharge the French state.

Sanders is a relative moderate. He has some unrealistic views, particularly on the minimum wage, and he's yet another isolationist, and he supports dodgy regimes. He also ran a selfish campaign, continuing to attack Clinton for a long time after it became apparent that she had won. He probably wouldn't get anything done, but on the world stage he'd just be left of centre, not outright left wing.

Of the three, Corbyn seems to be the middle ground in terms of policy, but possibly the most electable. His tax rises are substantial but realistic, even if his revenue estimates are wildly optimistic. His policies would amount to a big giveaway for the middle classes at the expense of the rich and poor (e.g. he wanted to freeze benefits to pay for subsidising rail fares).

I think any one of these three winning national elections is possible but unlikely.

I hope that liberalism can stave off the threats that these sorts of people represent, while also staving off the threat of right-wing populism. Macron has succeeded in France and has a great opportunity to show what he can do. Trudeau is holding down Canada. Coalitions in Germany and the Netherlands are seeing off supposed threats there. Britain is squeezing the liberals out, and America doesn't really have a liberal tradition (moderation is the best we can hope for there), but I think there's hope for liberalism yet.

The far left is a lot less dangerous to a society or the environment than the far right.
That said, either extreme end of the political spectrum is a place that you don't want to be; the best position is somewhere closer to the middle, up to 75% in either way.

Melanchon is a decent bloke. The millionaires deserve to pay more taxes. That's a fact.

I will admit that some people on the far-left are crazy. For example, PETA and the ALF are absolutely insane. Additionally, there are some politically correct wackos in the world today who over-analyse every movie in order to search for anything potentially offensive.

I totally agree with the economic far-left ... though the social far-left can get a bit wacky at times.

Here's the thing: The crazy people on the far-left are mostly harmless. The concept of animal rights is not something that you should worry about if you are against it. It is unenforceable anyway. We will never live in a world where people who crush bugs get sent to jail. That's unenforceable. Similarly, we will never live in a world in which the media contains no stereotypes.

Overall, I see the politically correct left as a joke. They're just funny. They aren't really that big a deal.

Meanwhile, the political right is literally putting the long-term fate of our species in jeopardy. I'm not just talking about the far-right. Environmental denialism is common even among those who describe themselves as "moderate conservatives".

Additionally, the threat of nuclear annihilation still hangs over our heads. It's totally acceptable to put humanity in danger without being labeled "far-right". Hillary Clinton's foreign policy would have been a disaster ... and yet people still consider her to be a "progressive liberal".

The far-right is dangerous. The far-left is just a laughingstock.