# It sucks to be a moderate **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 3, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072 "2010-08-03T23:15:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/41 "2010-08-04T06:58:42Z")
Maybe it just sucks to be you. Ever think of that? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/42 "2010-08-04T07:43:51Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > “This whole illegal immigration brehaha is a touch ridiculous” I’m a commie. > > “I know the disaster in the gulf is bad, but we need to keep drilling” Apparently, I kill sea turtles. > > “Gay marriage? Why not?” Why do I hate American values? > > “On the whole, firearms are a good thing for citizens to have” I should join a militia. > ’ Americans are more than a mere touch ridiculous on the illegal immigration issue. The continuing and growing energy demands will require more oil exploitation until (and unless) alternative technologies including nuclear grow in scale. I’d hope for stricter regulations considering the externalities involved. Gay marriage? Sure, why not? My country already has it. I’m okay with long gun ownership, handguns are something I’m okay with regulating. So I essentially agree with you on these issues, making me a moderate, too. To my credit, though, I’m not a whiny bitch like yourself, claiming persecution. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/43 "2010-08-04T14:36:55Z")
> [@US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](#): > > That’s how us extremists view your positions. Things should either have a Right or Wrong answer, and it’s riding the fence to say “well each side has some good things,” and you’re going to end up sinking the whole damn boat anyway if you don’t pick The Right Answer. That’s all well and good, but for us extremist moderates, the typical party lines each have some answers right. As just a basic example, I personally think gays should have a right to marry–and I should have a right to do a two-week course, get a license, and own a machine gun without too much in the way of taxes or fees. “Moderate” doesn’t often mean “compromiser” in US politics so much as it means “stereotypically liberal on some issues, stereotypically conservative on others.” ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/44 "2010-08-04T15:20:23Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Does holding views on both sides of the spectrum mean you are a moderate? Well the orthodoxy of the left and right does have some wierd results. > > On the right, you have: > > Single issue voters who suddenly have strong opinions on taxes, global warming, the regulation of businesses, and have developed a tolerance for racism from their peers; > > Libertarians who suddenly have a problem with gay marriage, abortion, vice and have developed a tolerance for racism from their peers; > > Racists who suddenly care about the constitution. > > On the left you don’t have the same melding of views but you do have some odd inconsistencies: > > Gays who think homosexuality is genetic and intelligence is not; > > Blacks who think gays are asking for too many rights and have a problem with brown people; > > Folks who read the second amendment out of the constitution and the right to abortion in. > > (its a bit harder to find the melding of ideas among the liberals, I don’t know if this is because they don’t have party discipline or if this is WHY they don’t have party discipline). I simply reject the “orthodoxy”. The kist you give is a good example of what I’m talking about… You cited some great illustrations of inconsistency, hypocrisy, stupidity. I reject orthdoxy. I reject bullshit. Just because one party or the other says something, doesn’t mean a thing to me. It’s what they say, not who says it. As for “party discipline”, forget it if that means I have to follow the party line on everything (or anything). ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/45 "2010-08-04T17:03:16Z")
[QUOTE=US Bureau of Labor Statistics] That’s how us extremists view your positions. Things should either have a Right or Wrong answer, and it’s riding the fence to say “well each side has some good things,” and you’re going to end up sinking the whole damn boat anyway if you don’t pick The Right Answer. [/QUOTE] The trouble is, in the real world things are rarely so cut and dried and your comic caricature. Being a moderate isn’t about compromising on everything by saying that the best course is between an extreme left wing position and an extreme right wing one, but saying that there is a third way. For instance, in your example, while the left winger seemingly had no position at all and the right winger wanted to drill a big hole, instead of a compromise to drill a smaller hole, perhaps rowing would be a different course. The way I see partisan politics in the US is that you have lemmings on the left that want to take us over a cliff and lemmings on the right who want to drop us in a big hole, and then you have the moderates who are trying to keep both sides from sinking the country. The trouble comes when either the lemmings on the left or lemmings on the right are able to make inroads into the center and convince enough people that jumping off a cliff or leaping in a hole actually looks like a good idea… -XT ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/46 "2010-08-04T18:20:51Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > How exactly is that accomplished? Always voting for the party out of power? It can’t have anything to do with incumbency, given the rates. > > It sounds close to the “gridlock is good” theory. Maybe that is the path. The less these fuckers are allowed to legislate, the better. No, because thinking “all government is always bad” is one of the extremist positions a moderate would avoid. A moderate like myself would look at the two candidates (because let’s face facts - you don’t find any moderates running as a third party candidate) and vote for the one who seemed less extremist. Which in recent Presidential elections, has been the Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/47 "2010-08-04T18:25:47Z")
> [@US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](#): > > A staunch conservative and staunch liberal were in a lifeboat after their Bipartisan Cruise wrecked at sea. They’d been floating for three days, hadn’t been rescued yet, and just ran out of all the food and water they managed to bring on board. The conservative proposed a daring plan of action: drill a 4-inch hole in the boat. > > The liberal didn’t want to drill any hole, so for a while, there was gridlock between the two. However, eventually the liberal relented and said “here’s a compromise,” and agreed to drill only a 2-inch hole. And if there was a moderate in the boat, he’d break the tie by siding with the liberal in his no-drilling policy. Then the following week, the three of them are choking inside a smoke-filled room. (These guys just have one wacky adventure after another.) The staunch conservative once again suggests they solve the problem by drilling a hole in the wall. The staunch liberal once again holds to his “no drilling ever” policy. But this time the moderate sides with the conservative. eta: Then after everyone is safe, the conservative and the liberal both denounce the moderate as a “flip flopper” because of his refusal to take a firm stand on the all important drilling vs no drilling issue. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/48 "2010-08-04T22:34:29Z")
I think it was David Brooks who said, “Everyone thinks he’s a moderate, because they know someone more extreme.” I’m not a liberal, a moderate, or a conservative. Those terms change meaning from one room of the house to the next. I’m a conservationist & an egalitarian. Those are at least in the direction of actual positions. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/49 "2010-08-04T22:43:09Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > I’m more into gooseberries now. I just grind them under my heel till they squeel “Reagan and Clinton were both great presidents!” Can a “moderate” suggest that they were both mediocre to lousy presidents who just managed to remain unindicted? That’s what’s so fun about moderation; it can be any combination of “left” & “right” &/or “neither” opinions. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/50 "2010-08-04T22:43:41Z")
“We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over.” -Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960), Welsh labor leader/politician ---
**Author:** ![US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c2a13f/32.png) [@US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/US_Bureau_of_Labor_Statistics)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/51 "2010-08-05T03:18:35Z")
Seriouspost: Yeah, I understand that most moderates don’t go for a straight 50/50 split down the middle of any issue. Moderates still mildly annoy me for a few reasons. [ol] [li]They use it to affect an air of superiority. “I’m a moderate. That means I’m above the political fray and have thought more about an issue than you reactionary degenerates.”[/li][li]As long as the parties are ‘Big Tent’ you might as well pick the one that matches more of your views than the other. There is such a thing as gun-rights Democrats, or pro-choice Republicans. Arlen Specter is a Democrat (now) and Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Republican. One of the factors in choosing the party that you are is just political posturing. They’re not firmly aligned with a single set of positions.[/li][li]As a corollary to the above if you get seriously into politics you’re going to have a better position to influence policy if you’re in a party and can use that to your advantage, rather than if you weren’t. Regardless of what policy or influence we’re talking about.[/li][li]90% of the people I’ve met who use “I’m a moderate” use it as code for “I’ve voted straight-ticket R for the past ten years but I’m in denial.”[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/52 "2010-08-05T04:17:08Z")
> [@US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](#): > > Seriouspost: Yeah, I understand that most moderates don’t go for a straight 50/50 split down the middle of any issue. > > Moderates still mildly annoy me for a few reasons. > > [ol] > [li]They use it to affect an air of superiority. “I’m a moderate. That means I’m above the political fray and have thought more about an issue than you reactionary degenerates.”[/li][li]As long as the parties are ‘Big Tent’ you might as well pick the one that matches more of your views than the other. There is such a thing as gun-rights Democrats, or pro-choice Republicans. Arlen Specter is a Democrat (now) and Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Republican. One of the factors in choosing the party that you are is just political posturing. They’re not firmly aligned with a single set of positions.[/li][li]As a corollary to the above if you get seriously into politics you’re going to have a better position to influence policy if you’re in a party and can use that to your advantage, rather than if you weren’t. Regardless of what policy or influence we’re talking about.[/li][li]90% of the people I’ve met who use “I’m a moderate” use it as code for “I’ve voted straight-ticket R for the past ten years but I’m in denial.”[/li][/ol] Not me; I’m a moderate who has voted straight-ticket D for the last n years. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/53 "2010-08-05T09:19:06Z")
I always wonder if we should get a Kinsey scale for this sort of thing. I’m pretty sure most people aren’t really 0s or 6s. Also, being a moderate has nothing to do with what party you’re in. I’m technically a moderate, but you won’t see me voting for Republicans as long as they maintain their current level of stupidity. I don’t mean their positions, just that there really seems to be a big anti-education movement in their party. It’s fine to not be well educated, but there’s no reason to think that your lack of education makes you superior. (BTW, I believe I’m actually a Republican, although I’ve never voted for one in anything above local–and then only if I knew the person. I just signed up at 18, not knowing what they actually stood for, and haven’t bothered to change it.) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072/54 "2010-08-05T09:21:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Imagine no moderates . . .](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=571701) Everytime I try, I wind up with a world that killed itself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-sucks-to-be-a-moderate/549072.md?page=2)