Reply #15: IMHO, this doesn't really have anything to do with it... [View All]

It's possible for a person to do this on each issue, and yet every time come up with the liberal/progressive (or conservative) position because of their personal beliefs. I think one of the great myths of the "moderate" is that they consider each issue on it's merits while liberal/progressive or conservatives march in lockstep. Provided people always vote their conscience (and we know that doesn't always happen), it really comes down to a person's personal beliefs. A "moderate" who sides with the conservatives on some issues and sides with the progressives on others just has beliefs in the merits of one ideology or the other on a particular issue, but that person is still voting based on their beliefs. While you could consider this person a moderate based on a sum of all their positions, as far as any individual position goes, these people are either progressive or conservative on any given issue. A "moderate" who constantly seeks a compromise between the two on every issue isn't really voting based on any personal beliefs, they're just trying to move things along. The world does need people like this in order to get things to actually happen, but they usually don't make good leaders.