Political Parties and Extremism

In my post about the Libertarian Presidential Debate I mentioned how my perception of the Libertarian and Republican Parties is that they are far more extreme on policy proposals and on the campaign trail. From my perspective Democrats are more level-headed and practical.

Garron, my insightful friend, former Republican, and catalyst of two posts in one day, commented about some examples of where the Democratic Party has the stereotype of extremism. A part of his thoughts:

In short, no. While there's definitely some extreme views within the (Republican) party, I don't think they dominate.
For a long time there was little place in the Democratic party for socially conservatives. The perception I and many others had was that Democrats represented the EXTREME abortion, homosexual, feminist, positions. If you had strong religious views you didn't feel too welcome.

The perception is that Dems are extreme on social issues (abortion, gays, feminism). With the exception of abortion--where those against legal access believe each abortion is a murder--my thought is that those issues listed affect quality of life, not quantity of life and are therefore by default secondary issues.

Examples:
-War: people, Americans and non-Americans alike, are dying.
-Global warming: people will die from drought, changes in growing seasons, extreme weather, etc.
-Health care: deficiencies in the system mean more people will die from lack of care.
-Economy: ours makes the rich richer and the poor poorer which leads the impoverished to live shorter, less healthy lives.

So yes, the Democrats have issues where they appear more extreme, but these are the issues that do not deal with life and death.* When it comes to issues of life and death--war, the economy, global warming, the environment, and health care--Democrats approach policy and campaigns on these issues with honest proposals that do not demagogue the opponent. It's refreshing and one of the reasons I'm proud to be a Democrat.

*Again, I empathize with people who believe an abortion is about life and death. No one likes abortions, but some of us believe a women has a right to choose to have an abortion. In my view this is especially true in the first trimester. So, certainly, if someone believes abortion is always about life and death then the analysis above breaks down.

UPDATE: To be clear, I do not believe Democrats are extreme on those social issues mentioned above, but the party certainly is viewed by a lot of people in the United States as being extreme on those issues. While I believe those folks are wrong, that does not change the fact that people perceive Democratic positions on homosexual issues, abortion, and feminism as extreme.