[beaconstudios]

> Leftism doesn't have a monopoly on the ideas of anti-discrimination.

I know, I'm not disputing that (and appreciate that you point out that affirmative action is a liberal rather than leftist idea, many don't make the distinction).

> Do you have a source for this? This ideal is older than Marx, Rousseau's Social Contract first posits this idea I think.

Yes, the leftist ideal is that of the humanist/liberal (liberty, equality, fraternity): this goes back before Marx to the utopian socialists who established the ideals, where Marx was more interested in historical determinism and developing a science of political economy.

> If you're having a hard time seeing your views as extreme

I'm not, that's what I said.