One is a principle of statesmanship. One is a principle of cowardice.

            Lets begin with the one used today, I’ll let you decide which is which.

            I’ll also preface these comments with the fact that I don’t believe there is such thing as a moderate. There is not even such a thing as a moderate political position. Even if one tends to be liberal in some views and conservative in other views, that doesn’t make one moderate, as if it were some average that could be calculated. It means only that one is liberal in some things, conservative in others. If you are pro-gun control and pro-life, you aren’t a “moderate.” You are conservative on the right to life and liberal on the second amendment.

            The oft stated spectrum is said to go something like this:

                               LEFT   --------------------- CENTER   ------------------------    RIGHT 

COMMUNISM - SOCIALISM - LIBERALISM - CONSERVATIVISM - NATIONALISM - FASCISM

This spectrum is not correct. That is why conservatives are labeled as fascist. A twisted notion of patriotism is confused with Mussolini. I’ve even heard liberals denounce patriotism as a negative attribute. “What makes one country better than another? Everybody is equally good, they can’t help where they are born, so we shouldn’t judge.” …as if they had just stated something very profound.

Fascism is a belief that seeks to place the nation above all other sources of loyalty, and to create a mobilized national community. While those on the right tend to be patriotic, their patriotism is based on the principles America was founded on: individual liberty and freedom. The conservative right support individual rights, the patriotism is only secondary because we believe our country is the best at promoting those rights. If the nation is to be placed above all other sources of loyalty, and conservatives are just fascists, why do conservatives oppose big government?

In reality, that is a flawed understanding of what conservatism stands for. Conservative technically means that one supports the status quo, resists change. Liberals, on the other hand, tend to label themselves as progressive. But if the country is going the wrong direction, the most “progressive” changes are actually conservative held positions, or even those changes that reverse the direction of the country.

Flat tax is one example that illustrates this. We have a tax system which taxes different rates based on income. The flat tax is a radical departure from this idea, which has been in place since the passage of the sixteenth amendment in 1913. The flat tax is progressive, yet it is the conservative postion. Social security privatization is another example. The radical change is the more progressive, but position held by conservatives. That means that progressive and conservative do not mean what they are commonly understood to mean.

Conservative today means what liberal used to mean. Often you will hear Thomas Jefferson and James Madison being called liberals. Liberals say this is because they stood for progress, instead of the status quo. Liberal has the same roots as “liberty.” Today, conservatism is the political philosophy which promotes individual liberty.

So the real divide is between those who promote individual liberty on one hand, and those who think of equality as the most important objective. Equality vs. Liberty. It is the foundation of modern politics.

Moderation is often considered the gold standard. A moderate position is often hailed as “reaching across the aisle”, “bridging the gap”, and “able to compromise” and the ever popular holy adjective: "Bipartisanship." Candidates such as John McCain and Barack Obama are hailed as the best of American candidates because of their ability to compromise and bring consensus to the two parties. But is it a great and noble thing to compromise your principles?  Especially to with those who stand opposed to your principles?

To do so is to, in fact, abandon your principles. And now your own principles are in a weaker position, ready to be further denigrated.

It can be debated as to the reasons why, but this desire to be moderate has caused of shift of the “center” in recent history towards the left. I believe this is because the left has tried harder. Liberals have more sinister tricks up their sleeves, as was shown in the sixties, with mob violence and the hubris that comes through feeling morally superior. Theoretically, the desire to be moderate could shift the political “center” to the right, but historically it hasn’t happened that way.  

            Because we live in a politically diverse society, there is a natural bell curve across the political spectrum. Some really whackjob communists on the left, and some rather confused libertarians on the right. But what about the whole group of people in the middle? I remember back in the 2004 election when Kerry and Bush had a townhall debate with questions posed by self declared “undecideds.” All that means is that they haven’t made up their mind where they stand on political issues yet, likely because they don’t understand them. If people truly had principles they based their political beliefs on, they wouldn’t be swayed so easily. But as politicians try to pander to these undecideds, they abandon their principles to appear moderate (whatever that is) and throw away any chance of truly convincing some of those undecideds of the correctness of any particular position.

            Clinton was a master of this. He would lick his finger, stick it in the air, and whatever direction the wind was blowing is the direction he would go. It is all too common.  But just because a majority of people support or oppose a certain issue doesn’t make it right. 51% of people may support a particular tax, that doesn’t mean it won’t harm the economy.

            A true leader is one who points in the direction he wants to go, and then goes there. The people then choose if they want to follow by voting for that person. And it doesn’t alienate voters. Reagan was a leader like this, and he carried 49 states in 1984. (that’s known in elections as a landslide…)

            A finger in the air, or pointing forward. Which one do we vote for? Who should we be voting for?