we're only kind of crazy
Doing some reading on the internet this evening I once again came across the argument that the "political spectrum" is in fact a circle: that is, that when you get far enough left you start running into people who look a great deal like the denizens of the extreme right. One might point to the two worst totalitarian regimes of the 20th century as evidence of this position, or the seeming similarities between the actions of militant anarchists and right-wing militias. Or lately, it's the paranoid style demonstrated by the "truther" and "birther" movements that gets all the press. The only problem is, while each pair may appear comfortably similar, when taken together you have to see that they're mutually exclusive. Birthers don't want to smash the state, and anarchists aren't nostalgic for the Soviet Union. The political spectrum isn't a circle, it's more like a dot chart plotted within a hypercube.
Or something. All of which is to say, there are more things in heaven and on earth and in people's heads that are dreamed of in your political philosophy. And thank goodness! The problem with suggesting the crazies on the left and the right are roughly equivalent is that it positions folks in the middle—the moderates—as the only sane ones. Who wouldn't rush to avoid being grouped with the Montana Freemen or believers in chemtrails?
We, however, are not political moderates. While we do tend to vote for Democrats (albeit occasionally under protest), we also think baking bread and growing food and, oh, having babies at home is more important than who's in charge in Boston or Washington. We might not be out there smashing the state, but we wouldn't mind seeing it whither away a little bit. Some or all of this may qualify us for "crazy" under your personal definition, but from the inside it's very clear that it's a different sort of crazy than the folks with the black helicopters or telluric currents.
In other words, I stand in opposition to moderates and their timid devotion to the status quo, but I also stand as far away from all those other freaks as possible. Come on guys, you're making us all look bad!