The Modern Moderate Politician In America

If moderate is determined by someone who wants both a party affiliation AND a process open to compromise, then they are for sure extinct in the American pol wild, for the foreseeable future, imo.. As we are in a period of struggle with a GOP that is dying, at least as it has been, and when that happens the natural response is for them to grasp for a little more and more purity to make it all better. Which is exactly the wrong thing to do. And that goes double for a party that exists for no other reason than to oppose change, and maintain the status quo.
There is very little the conservatives are for these days, beyond permanent war and maximizing profit for the few. They are defined by what they are against, which is everything liberal and progressive, and the urge is toward being better and more of what your purpose is for existing in the first place.
And in a two party system, one side or the other gets to pick the rules of engagement to the lowest denominator, and those are the rules the other side must accept in order to win. At least to the necessary degree.
I think democrats are in pretty good shape over all. Not perfect, with still surges of GOP light left over from the country’s and its voters, 30 year experiment with the hard right. And taking to the populist bent is wide open for them to make hay with. The biggest mistake they could make would be doing the same over reach as the republicans, and instead, focusing like a laser on what works to achieve their policy goals. Which are things like near universal health care coverage, without going all or nothing for a single payer system, for now. As well as other end result progress for the 99% whose lot they are charge with improving.
We have a super smart, if imperfect president, who is a good learner, and understands the current politics as well as anyone – as well as a pretty stable rank and file voter base, along with the reps they picked to represent them.
There is nothing wrong with the more pure in ideology to voice their wants, but only if it is done within the dem tent. If we don’t end up in ashes due to global thermonukular warfare, I like the odds better than I did. Thanks to the GOP porcupine, flopping over so every one can see the soft underbelly of what they are really about.