Democracy and extremism don't mix - extremism tends to undermine democratic institutions, but those institutions have trouble containing extremists in advance. People in the Terri Schiavo case already need bodyguards and there have already been murders. Politicians violate their oaths to the Constitution in order to please extremists. What's next?

Paul Krugman writes:

[M]edical care is the cutting edge of extremism. Yesterday The Washington Post reported on the growing number of pharmacists who, on religious grounds, refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control or morning-after pills. These pharmacists talk of personal belief; but the effect is to undermine laws that make these drugs available. And let me make a prediction: soon, wherever the religious right is strong, many pharmacists will be pressured into denying women legal drugs.

And it won't stop there. There is a nationwide trend toward "conscience" or "refusal" legislation. Laws in Illinois and Mississippi already allow doctors and other health providers to deny virtually any procedure to any patient. Again, think of how such laws expose doctors to pressure and intimidation.

The closest parallel I can think of to current American politics is Israel. There was a time, not that long ago, when moderate Israelis downplayed the rise of religious extremists. But no more: extremists have already killed one prime minister, and everyone realizes that Ariel Sharon is at risk. America isn't yet a place where liberal politicians, and even conservatives who aren't sufficiently hard-line, fear assassination. But unless moderates take a stand against the growing power of domestic extremists, it can happen here.

I think that Krugman is right in his prediction: once pharmacists are given the "option" of not filling legal prescriptions, just how long can it be until extremists begin to pressure them not to fill prescriptions? Abortion is legal, but religious extremists say it is murder and picket clinics that perform abortions. Oral contraceptives are legal, but religious extremists say that it causes abortion and, hence, murder — so why not picket small-town pharmacies to pressure them to stop filling the prescriptions?

Indeed, how long will it be until Christian extremists in America become more like Jewish extremists in Israel? Some already are, but the media doesn't report on them much.

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