I do want to point out that it's apparent to anyone who spends any amount of time around here that some folks are arguing each issue from conviction, regardless of whether it would fit neatly into a liberal or conservative ideal-package, and some folks who just seem to spout talking points.
On the other hand, I don't know very many people at all who don't have a very definite and one sided opinion of the current Administration and its allies in Congress - be it positive or negative, it's rarely mixed, and frequently extreme. I'm afraid this has lead to a with us or against us attitiude that tends to make people's mouths fill with spit when the see the "wrong" bumper sticker on the car ahead of them.
In such a polarized environment, the question to ask is how to restore moderation. I, frankly view myself as a moderate who has had the political center pulled out from under me, and I experience nearly as much cognitave dissonance trying to parse the idiotic extreme liberal positions as I do the idiotic extreme conservative ones. Unfortunately, those are the only positions that get any airtime any more. So how to bring back a sense of moderation? The problem, as I see it, is that an attempt to moderate one's position is likely to be viewed as weakness by the more extreme elements in opposition, who will then demand further concessions, rather than moderating their position. I can surely see that happening on both sides, and I am at a loss to figure out what to do about it civilly. Less civilly, it seems to me that the more extreme positions on both sides should be mercilessly ridiculed, preferably from their own sides. But, then, when more extremist positions are held by those leaing each side, it gets to be a simple problem of pack loyalty, and I have never been good at figuring out how to manipulate that.
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