White House Press Secy: An extremist is one who disagrees with the majority. Examples of extremists: Martin Luther, John Calvin, Galileo Galilei, Frederick Douglass, Louis Pasteur, Ignaz Semmelweiss, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr. If I’m an extremist, I’m in good company.

On the other hand, those who agreed with the majority put into power Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. Majorities don’t have such a great track record, do they? Much if not most of the progress on which humanity depends was made by dissidents and outliers. Conformity is a virtue only if what we are conforming to is moral and just. And that’s a really big if.