The succinct words of Leonard Pitts (CDT July 1) deserve repeating.

“It seems that (for right wing extremists) not only are facts no longer important, but they are not even to the point. Rather the point is the construction and maintenance of an alternative narrative ...” of American history and the current state of affairs.

One can enlarge upon the meaning of this narrative. It mimics actual historical narratives that rest on arguments that are rooted in facts.

In large part, it demonizes a single individual — our president, who allegedly intends to end gun rights in America.

All our problems have but a single cause: liberals. They are enemies who seek to turn American society to socialism, which means, among other things, a single-payer health system, redistribution of wealth and government domination of all aspects of our lives.

There is but a single solution: Strip bare the government and discard it.

Underlying this mentality is an acute sense of vast conspiracy. This narrative lacks sense of the complexities of modern societies and the complications of international politics. In a word, this mentality is mythical.

It rests on a mythological mentality, a withdrawal from rational discourse, a reversion to mankind’s oldest and most primitive mode of thinking. It lauds technology but belittles scientific thought. This mentality, in our society, is usually confined to the fringes, left and right. At present it threatens to dominate one of our major political parties.

George Enteen State College