Vernon Parker has a problem. He’s running for Congress against Kyrsten Sinema, a truly radical left-wing extremist.

But it’s harder than you might think to get that message across. Sinema personally is likable enough, but politically she is simply a fringe character. She’s a feminist who describes stay-at-home mothers as “leeches” and alleges that capitalism has damaged the average American economically.

She advocates racial “revolution”, and ending all aid to Israel. Naturally, she supports the Occupy movement and has protested with Anarchist groups to oppose the “war on terror”. She’s not exactly a person who most Americans would want as their representative. But like others before her of similar persuasion (Barack Obama and Janet Napolitano come to mind), she changes her uniform when it’s time to enter the political arena.

There she’s all about the reasonable “liberal” who “reaches across the aisle” and utters other soothing word potions. If Parker can just explain all this to his constituents, he wins. But when voters hear candidates charge their opponent is an “extremist”, it sounds like yada yada yada to them. We’re all constantly bombarded with hysterical messages. Everybody calls everybody extremists.

Democrats call Republicans extreme for holding positions shared by a majority of voters like cutting down on illegal immigration and abolishing Obamacare. Republicans call Democrats extreme for supporting Obamacare, the law of the land and for extending welfare of all kinds, even though that’s pretty popular too. For better or worse, these aren’t extreme positions just points of disagreement.

Maybe Vernon Parker can fight through it and become the outstanding Congressman he shows the promise to be. Yet communication in the digital age, while much easier than before, is also much more difficult than ever.