Leftist extremism isn’t apparent to people on that end of the spectrum. They truly believe they are on “the right side of history.”

Public education indoctrination has aided this fallacy. From K-12, students have been taught (since I was a kid) that humans have destroyed the environment, slavery was started at America’s birth, and that “history is doomed to repeat itself.” Add in the demonization of Columbus, colonization, and our entire history is being skewed to make students hate themselves and their heritage.

Many teachers go into the field because they “want to change lives.” They watched movies like Dead Poet’s Society and thought they could be Mr. Keating. They hunger to “save the planet” and “end suffering,” through their work.

Yes, teaching can be a noble cause, but this overinflated sense of purpose often leads many to let their egos take control. They see a wildfire and scream about climate change, despite the fact that most wildfires are caused by arson or healthy natural processes. They teach the horrors of slavery withholding the facts that black tribal leaders in African sold other Africans to British and American slave traders and that slavery existed long before Roman times. They demonize white explorers and historical figures because they themselves don’t know how to properly cope with the weight of their own history and so they project this onto others.

All of this has been exploited in recent years. The corporate media and socialist democrats have seized the opportunity to capitalize off of division and misunderstanding.

But many far-leftists either excuse these doings or overlook them because they truly believe that America is a failed experiment. Free men running a free country, to them, was always corrupt because some of those free men owned slaves and/or were white.

This is where empathy, sociology, and anthropology are failing us all. To understand the founders of a country, context is necessary. To understand anyone and their motives, the details of the culture, timing, and values matter.

Leftists make the mistake of expecting their heroes to be infallible godlike creatures. Most likely driven by fiction, these individuals cannot believe that a good person can sometimes do things that they view as bad. They set exceptional expectations on themselves and others, and in many cases, are let down by not only everyone else, but mainly, by themselves.

This is where the false idea that our free country isn’t free is born. When we fail ourselves, we have two choices, we can accept it and learn from it, or we can deflect blame. Deflecting blame seems to be the route that most far-leftists take.

These are the people who are also more likely to be single, mentally ill, and physically unhealthy. When a relationship fails, they swear off traditional connections. When they have unhealthy thoughts they use it as a passport to victimhood because that has become a way to be special or get attention in that culture, instead of getting professional help or working to control their mindset. When eating poorly and not exercising enough, they blame their genetics or proclaim fat as sexy instead of consulting healthcare professionals on how to incorporate better habits into their life.

Why? Because it is easier to be single and mentally/physically unhealthy. It’s easier to sit around watching Netflix, alone, packing on the pounds.

This laziness isn’t always conscious. Because so many of the far left have been raised in a victimhood culture, they really think this is how life is for everyone. They have lost a sense of reasoning that goes beyond healthy human thought.

Every leftist I know has a mental illness. But they don’t want to change their behaviors or diets to promote healthier thoughts. They want prescription pills that dull their senses and expect others to accept their issues without question. Working to gain control over their thoughts and emotions isn’t something they believe they can do.

These are the people who want to destroy the nuclear family. They are so lonely and miserable, yet they hate the thought of adhering to any tradition that their grandparents found joy in.

They believe that America is a failed experiment because they haven’t succeeded. Yet these people have failed due to a lack of discipline, gumption, critical thinking, and proper communication skills. And I don’t fault them. I was one of them in my early 20s. My ex-husband is still one of them.

The American dream -- that so many people declare is dead -- still lives. Ironically, it is being killed by these people who believe that our country failed them. They were lied to by teachers who entered the system for selfish reasons and perpetuated a cycle of media-enriched political lies for short-lived gratification.

Working my way up through my career (after being homeless for a time) and finding joy in traditional motherhood helped me realize that my grandmother is the person I look to the most. Not my friends, my mom, the media, or any modern contrivance. The ideals that led this country forward are the ones that built it. They live in everyone who works hard, cares about families, the future, and preserving history as honestly as possible.

America is a success. It is the people who refuse to grow and change with the country’s needs that fail her experiment.

Jessica is the author of The Magic of Nature, Walk Your Path, The Golden Rule, and numerous stories and articles. She is a member of the Missouri Writer’s Guild, SCBWI and she currently writes for “The Epoch Times.” Her work has been featured by: Evie Magazine, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Chicken Soup for the Soul, LitReactor, Mothers Always Write, and many more. Her work has won 2 Missouri Writer’s Guild Awards, and countless others. Find her at: jessicamariebaumgartner.com

Image: Alisdare Hickson

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.