Militantly Moderate

All government,—indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act,—is founded on compromise and barter.. -- Edmund Burke (1729–1797).

My Plans

3-Feb-2005: I have added a wiki page to act as a white board for this topic. Stop by and express your views.

If the 2004 election has taught me anything it's that radicals on both the left and right have taken over the country. Moderates need to take back the country. This page will explore my ideas about this.

I will probably place my thoughts both here and on the blog as I develop them. There are already a number of posts there which relate to this topic. One of the notable ones is spin.

Links

Links to related web pages.

Outraged Moderates.org: Says it all.
The Moderates: The Moderates are a student organization at The University of Kentucky whose goal is to promote political moderation.

Inclusion of these links on this page does not constitute endorsement of these views by Bob Breedlove. The views expressed on these web pages are soley those of the authors.

Introduction

compromise

NOUN: A settlement of differences through mutual concession: accommodation, arrangement, give-and-take, medium, settlement. Law : composition. See AGREE.
VERB: To make a concession: concede. Idioms: give and take, go fifty-fifty, meet someone halfway. See AGREE.

Compromise Logo It's time for moderates to take on the tactics of radicals on both ends of the political spectrum and become more "militant". We have to take back the political process from extremists who control the major political parties. Only through moderation and compromise will our government survive. Already, the national political system is stagnating under the weight of polarization.

I believe that the engine of our government has run out of "oil". The engine has frozen because it has attempted to run without compromise.

This page is devoted to the proposition that only through compromise and accommdation can be really accomplish anything. Although politics will be the main focus, this principle should apply to all aspects of our life.

See our Moderates Hall of Fame

-- Updated: 28-May-2005

What is a Moderate?

Being a moderate does not mean that one is undecided or unopinionated. A moderate has definite views of most issues. A moderate can take strong stands on issues, sometimes even radical positions. A moderate can, for example, be against the death penalty and for stem cell research.

The point is that a moderate evaluates each issue and take the stand that best represents their considered opinion. The distinction is that, unlike a radical on either side, the moderate can have both liberal and conservative opinions and take positions which are between the two extremes on other issues.

Compromise

The key element in the belief system of the moderate is compromise. A moderate often sees and agrees with elements on both sides of an argument. But, unlike their radical counterparts, the moderate believes that the only way to really implement anything is through compromise. They are willing to move from the more radical positions toward the center of the issue in order to achieve progress.

-- Updated: 6-Nov-2004

Bush Re-elected

OK, so I'm not so enthused about that. But, as a militant moderate, I need to work toward the goal of uniting the country. This is what Bush claims needs to be done and I, for one, agree with him. The question becomes--how?

The answer has to be compromise. Movement to the middle is the only way that our country will survive.

I am afraid, that the right wing portions of the Republican party will take the Bush victory as a sign that they have control and attempt to move their social agenda through the congress.

I am also worried about the appointment of Supreme Court Justices with right wing views. I must say, that, as a militant moderate, I feel equally strong about liberal justices. Of all the effects of a second Bush administration, this can be the most long-lasting.

Party Moderates

This is an interesting thought. I found the reference to "GOP Moderates" and it brought me up short. I suppose there are "Democrat Moderates" also. But I wonder just how moderate each of these groups is. I think we are looking at a situation like this:

Democratic
Moderates

Militant
Moderates

GOP
Moderates

That is, with each political party having a wing which leans towards the center, but which is really just the less radical arm of the party.

-- Updated: 5-Nov-2004

Moderate Extremes

Seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it. But moderates can be extreme in some of their opinions. The key is that, in general, a moderate is willing to compromise.

Here in the U.S. we have blue states and red states. Of course, if you stop to think about it, there are probably red folks in the blue states and blue folks in the red states, making the whole thing kind of silly, but, at the same time disturbing.

The way to pull the whole thing together is to realize that everyone can have extreme views about some things. The key is to not have extreme views about everything and to keep an open mind regarding the views of others.

-- Updated: 11-Nov-2004

The Extremist Advantage

Radicals on either site of an issue have two distinct advantages which translate into action. While moderates, because they can see all sides of an issue are less driven to actually do anything.