In a presidential race, one has to appeal to Moderates in order to win a general election, but who are they? What is it that makes a person a political Moderate? How does one define or describe the Moderate view in general terms?
Here is the explanation that this Moderate writer can come up with:
Moderates see shades of gray when Liberals and Conservatives see only black and white.
It isn’t that Moderates can’t see black and white, but rather that they see the gray that Liberals and Conservatives miss.
To Moderates, the correct answer isn’t always “this” or “that”, because at times, the correct answer is “a little of both”. When a Conservative or a Liberal insists that something is absolute, the Moderate maintains a healthy amount of skepticism. It isn’t that Moderates don’t believe in the existence of absolutes, but rather that they understand that all Humans are fallible and, thus, can mistakenly misjudge something as being absolute.
Moderates can generally favor a political party that is the ideological home of either Conservatives or Liberals, but Moderates understand that no political party has a monopoly on good ideas and that no political party has a monopoly on bad ideas.
Moderates understand that politicians and pundits within their favored party can say and do things that are just plain wrong. Thus, Moderates call out the wrong-doing of those politician and pundits, to the ire of the supporters of said politicians and pundits.
Whereas Conservatives and Liberal often dwell inside echo chambers, Moderates stay outside, enabling the latter to perform the function of “inspector general” or “public editor” within their chosen party. Some Moderates (such as this writer) aren’t members of any political party, and, thus, they are able to critique all political parties.
If nothing else, Moderates promote a sense of decency whenever Liberals and Conservatives don’t.
Moderates may irk Liberals and Conservatives, but the latter two need the former because the former keep the extremists of the latter two in check.
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