Anger on the political right has contributed to increased political polarization and the near paralysis of the federal government. This discussion will examine the sources of this ultra-conservative sentiment. Why do people see the past in idealized images and seek to restore it? Are some people more at ease under authoritarian structures? Why are so many tyrants and autocrats venerated – at first – by so many of their followers? Who gains from the loss of liberties to women, to minorities, to immigrants, and to labor? What are the dangers to the nation, if any, posed by a rising and increasingly militant extreme right? What might offset that danger in the future?