What it means to be a moderate

[Vanquish]

Or it could just mean they enjoy the same confirmation bias as everyone else.

What makes you think conservatives and liberals don't decide issues by what they believe and stick to it despite what the other side says?

Because that's the whole point with STICKING TO THE PARTY LINE!!!

A moderate / independent / centrist realizes that on some issues the Republicans get it right...and on some issues they don't. They get that Democrats might really understand and legislate one area well...and others not so much.

Every day/hour/minute I come on here I see mindless posts about "Repugs dont like the facts!!" or "Libtards just dont want the truth!"...bullshit. Both sides NEVER get it right 100% of the time.

So why the brainless allegiance to one side or the other? Because it gives you somewhere to belong..and it gives you an evil devil to scrutinize.

You can say "oh but I dont believe everything (insert your side) says!! I just lean with them on the majority of the issues." Good for you.You're on the right path as long as you dont make any statements about how the other side always gets it wrong.

Oh, you were talking about political parties. I was talking about liberals and conservatives.

Same difference. Libs / Conservs - Repubs and Democrats.

No side of any coin gets policy or philosophy right 100% of the time. Still the retards of the world point at the other and say THE OTHER SIDE is always wrong.

As for the neg rep..what of it? Talking about it does amount to whining. If you're not trying to attribute a name with an action (me with neg repping) why else bring it up? Smiley faces or no,

I frequent much tougher forum boards that this. Try rpg codex > doesn't scale to your level on for size. You're more than likely to hit on a post talking about gang raping 3 year old boys afflicted with down syndrome with multi-headed dicks spewing from your mother's anus. I've seen and can respond with worse. But here, neg rep serves the function well enough.

 

[WillowTree]

A "moderate" is someone who is either too ignorant to take a stand on a political issue or too timid to voice an opinion that might not be popular with fellow ignorant moderates.

blow it out your ass

Do you still have your helmet on?

 

[del]

A "moderate" is someone who is either too ignorant to take a stand on a political issue or too timid to voice an opinion that might not be popular with fellow ignorant moderates.

blow it out your ass

Do you still have your helmet on?

always

 

[Anguille]

As for the neg rep..what of it? Talking about it does amount to whining.

Talking about whining about neg rep amounts to whining.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

[manifold]

It's been long established that any mention whatsoever of a neg rep may rightly be construed as whining. But sometimes it's still worth it.

 

[Anguille]

My only complaint about neg rep is that I never get enough of it.

 

[Ravi]

Because that's the whole point with STICKING TO THE PARTY LINE!!!

A moderate / independent / centrist realizes that on some issues the Republicans get it right...and on some issues they don't. They get that Democrats might really understand and legislate one area well...and others not so much.

Every day/hour/minute I come on here I see mindless posts about "Repugs dont like the facts!!" or "Libtards just dont want the truth!"...bullshit. Both sides NEVER get it right 100% of the time.

So why the brainless allegiance to one side or the other? Because it gives you somewhere to belong..and it gives you an evil devil to scrutinize.

You can say "oh but I dont believe everything (insert your side) says!! I just lean with them on the majority of the issues." Good for you.You're on the right path as long as you dont make any statements about how the other side always gets it wrong.

Oh, you were talking about political parties. I was talking about liberals and conservatives.

Same difference. Libs / Conservs - Repubs and Democrats.

I don't see it as the same difference. I consider myself to be a liberal and yet I was a registered Republican for many years.

What you are doing is taking being a moderate to an extreme and generalizing about everyone else.

Good work!

 

[Toome]

I don't know very many people who neatly fall within one political stereotype or another. Those who cling to political labeling do so because they feel secure with the perceived ability to predict how a person may see a certain issue. This is why these simpletons live to point out perceived contradictions from one or the other. Example: If Dick Cheney is supposedly conservative, then how do you explain his lesbian daughter? If Clinton is supposedly liberal, then how do you explain the fact that he oversaw a balanced federal budget?

Fact is that people do not fall under easily-drawn political templates. Even so-called fanatics will entertain a view that totally contradicts the overall label they claim to espouse. And within that paradigm, there are folks who have easily forgotten (or ignore) the basic tenet of whatever view they claim to have. Example: If someone is truly conservative in that they fiercely defend individual rights, then why advocate that the government poke its nose into someone's affairs when that person is gay? If someone is truly liberal in that they believe in Big Brother government that protects our individual rights, then why criticize those who believe in God or who look to the Ten Commandments for inspiration?

We're all hypocrites when it comes to political labels because the one thing about human behavior is that it is inconsistent. And the so-called political beliefs that govern that behavior are equally inconsistent.

Otherwise, it's all nothing but theater, and the trick is to not swallow the rhetoric hook, line and sinker.

 

[JFK_USA]

No, being a moderate means you probably have apathy about politics. You just don't care about politics as long it doesn't affect you.

Do you like having parks? Then you vote democrat

Do you like having fire departments and police? Then you vote democrat

Do you like having the ablilty to negotiate the wage you are paid? Then you vote democrat.

Do you like clean air? Then you vote democrat.


George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt are the 3 most popular presidents by Historians and all believed in a strong central federal government. That working as 50 separate government is not as efficeint a 1 strong central government.

Why are Harding, Hoover, Nixon and Bush ranked as one of the worst presidents. Because Republican policy has a history to destroy our American ideals. That the power belong to the people, that not big corporations control how much we all should be paid, but we determine that. Because business look out for themselves, not the greater good. That once we give businesses and the rich more power, the people become opressed and will have no freedoms.

Take for instances Rand Paul's "Right to Work act" which outlaws unions. That means big businesses err I mean "the market" will now determine that no one will have a fair, living wage to provide a family. That will decrease the purchasing power of the citizens of the United States and start our decline to a third world country. These people are nuts, they are not Americans, they do not hold Americans in high regard, Republicans love countries like Somolia.

You want to be like Somolia? Vote Republican.

 

[manifold]

Based on the limited sample of replies to this thread, it would seem that the only thing right and left wing nutters hate more than each other and an objectively minded person not wedded to a particular ideological bent.

Color me not even remotely surprised.

 

[Vanquish]

And that's my point. So many people on this forum board think that only 1 side is right 100% of the time. That's just insane. Both sides have good ideas...and we need to back the good ideas...not one particular party.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

And that's my point. So many people on this forum board think that only 1 side is right 100% of the time. That's just insane. Both sides have good ideas...and we need to back the good ideas...not one particular party.

Wow you sound like Glenn Beck.

 

[kaz]

Being a moderate means that you cannot fall in love with either left-wing nor right-wing ideology but rather recognize the strengths and weakness of each

The strength of each is what they don't want to do. The Left (at least in theory) doesn't want to engage in foreign wars or have government control our bodies. The right (at least in theory) doesn't want to confiscate and spend.

The reality is that "moderates" want to do all those things, just less "extremely" then the two parties. The net result of that is you want our liberty to die just like the two parties, just slower...

 

[Toro]

I think being a moderate means that by sticking to the middle road you are allowing the left and the right to deterimine what you position will be rather than thinking for yourself.

That's because you are a fool, no offense.

On any one given issue, the moderate picks a side based on his own conscience.

You're welcome,
manifold

You are mistaken. You are describing an independant not a moderate.
A moderate is someone with no mind of his own.
Glad I could clear that up for you.

See, I think it is the other way. I find that highly ideological people on both sides fall back on positions because it is what they are supposed to think. I find it is the ideologues who are constrained more so by thinking within a box.

 

[Flopper]

That's because you are a fool, no offense.

On any one given issue, the moderate picks a side based on his own conscience.

You're welcome,
manifold

You are mistaken. You are describing an independant not a moderate.
A moderate is someone with no mind of his own.
Glad I could clear that up for you.

See, I think it is the other way. I find that highly ideological people on both sides fall back on positions because it is what they are supposed to think. I find it is the ideologues who are constrained more so by thinking within a box.

I often think pragmatism is the only ideology that makes sense. Our leaders should look for solutions to problems without having to pass them through an ideological filter. The independent or centralist is much better equipped to solve problems than a liberal or conservative because they can consider all possible solutions, not just ones that agree with some ideology.

 

[Sheldon]

I consider myself generally an independent instead of a moderate.

Moderate to me implies the middle way, where you seek to compromise between two dichotomies.

But independent to me means something other than compromise. An independent may hold strong positions that can't be reconciled with the other side, but then effectively "switch teams" on a different issue.

Basically I see it as this: a moderate tries to get both sides to be friends, and an independent feels they're doing something right if they're pissing off both sides at different times.

The difference between a Shetland and a wolf.

 

[Vanquish]

And that's my point. So many people on this forum board think that only 1 side is right 100% of the time. That's just insane. Both sides have good ideas...and we need to back the good ideas...not one particular party.

Wow you sound like Glenn Beck.

Nice attempt but you fail. While Beck might criticize the Right, don't be fooled. I've never heard him praise the left...not for one idea or action or principle.

The attempt at annoyance was entertaining though.

 

[Vanquish]

I consider myself generally an independent instead of a moderate.

Moderate to me implies the middle way, where you seek to compromise between two dichotomies.

But independent to me means something other than compromise. An independent may hold strong positions that can't be reconciled with the other side, but then effectively "switch teams" on a different issue.

Basically I see it as this: a moderate tries to get both sides to be friends, and an independent feels they're doing something right if they're pissing off both sides at different times.

The difference between a Shetland and a wolf.

Using that definition, I'm an independent. I don't care if people get along so much as I want the best IDEAS to come first.

 

[manifold]

I consider myself generally an independent instead of a moderate.

Moderate to me implies the middle way, where you seek to compromise between two dichotomies.

But independent to me means something other than compromise. An independent may hold strong positions that can't be reconciled with the other side, but then effectively "switch teams" on a different issue.

Basically I see it as this: a moderate tries to get both sides to be friends, and an independent feels they're doing something right if they're pissing off both sides at different times.

The difference between a Shetland and a wolf.

I understand your point, but I don't completely agree.

Perhaps I should invent a new word for it, but when I say moderate in the OP, I mean someone perfectly capable of either of the two positions you've outlined and decides it on a case by case basis. There are some issues, like individual liberty for example, where I'm much more one-sided and not in favor of compromise. On the other hand, how we spend our budget is and area that demands compromise.

 

[Sheldon]

Well, your definiton of moderate is just your opinion. Mine is a fact. Ergo, I win by TKO.



I was going to say the new word could be moderpendent, but that has a derp in it.