by Samuel Francis

About the author: Samuel Francis is a syndicated columnist.

Now if it's "extremism" you want, search no further than the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, where last week a gentleman named Mark Potok discoursed on the subject of "hate crimes."

Potok, an articulate and well-informed young man, is the publications director of an outfit known as the Southern Poverty Law Center, which makes it its business to sniff out and expose "hate groups." What was odd about the event is that it was Potok—not necessarily the groups he talked about—who turned out to be the extremist.

Hate and Extremism

Potok is an extremist because it appears to be his conviction—indeed, his unshakable and unquestioned assumption—that virtually everyone who disagrees with the political agenda of the left is part of...