On Moderation

To be a moderate in the sense I use it in the Asplund Chart, one has to meet two of three basic criteria:

1. Believe that policies offered by Republican leaders or Democratic leaders or some bipartisan combination of the two are generally the most reasonable solutions.

2. Have an preference for aisle-crossing, compromise-based solutions.

3. If either 1 or 2 doesn't apply, one can still be functionally moderate if there is a reasonable expectation that (through credentials and/or connections) moderate policies will lead to one being granted personal political/regulatory/economic authority.

There are really two different types of moderate and it's critically important to delineate between them. 

Moderates who are bipartisan swing voters are in one category. These moderates meet criteria 1 and 2, and generally don't meet criterion 3. They are voters who will never vote for a third party or independent candidate (except for special cases like Sen. Lieberman who was a Democrat until he lost the primary to a more progressive candidate). These voters will generally be members of one party, but may occasionally cross over to vote for the other side if their party puts up a candidate they consider too ideologically conservative/progressive. This kind of moderate is, like voters in all the other factions, a reasonable and important voice in electoral politics.

The other type of moderate is the class of political insiders. These are people with a seat at the political bargaining table. They are the politicians, regulators, bureaucrats, lawyers, big corporations and special interest group lobbyists. Angelo Codevilla's ruling class is composed mostly of moderates. Glenn Greenwald identifies the Third Way alliance of political and corporatist interests as undermining the objectives of the progressive movement. Sarah Palin rails against the capitalism of connections that replaces free markets and fair competition with cronyism, influence peddling and centralized control. The groups identified in the three pieces are moderate based on criterion 3.

A government of, by and for the people is an exceptional thing. Its institutions cannot remain under the control of a small, self-serving elite without becoming something less.