Moderate + Mainstream

I am right of center....fiscally. I am left of center....socially.

I believe that government is the worst use of our money. It is a necessary evil with regard to those things it was originally empowered to do. It has however, stepped into many things it does not belong in. The less money it has, the less meddling it does.

I am pro-abortion...for the first two trimesters....then opposed on virtually any grounds.

I am against a single-payer medical system. I have family in England and I have had medical care in Canada. Talk to the average person in either country and they will literally spit their hatred of their medical systems. I am willing to support a government program of vouchers for medical care AND schools.

I am pro-education, but anti-teachers unions. One of the worst features of our educational system is tenure. It should be abolished. I am opposed to unions in general. My father was a shop steward. In Chicago. I have seen first hand the terrible toll unions can inflict on workers and businesses.

I am pro-military. I served, my father served, my brother served (and retired from) and my nephew is currently serving. My support is total. (Did I support the actions inAbu-Grab, no, don't be stupid)

I am pro-1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and so on amendment rights. I am anti-ACLU.

My positions are MODERATE. They are shared by the VAST majority of Americans.

However, our media - all of it - has reached a point where people on the left can not tell a moderate liberal position and where people on the right can not tell a moderate conservative position. Increasingly, the only voices you hear on TV, cable or radio are absolute conservatives and absolute liberals. I chose the adjective absolute instead of far-left/right because someone doesn't have to be far-either to be an absolutist. Victoria holds virtually no conservative positions (I have just sat here for 5 minutes to try and think of one with no luck) but I wouldn't call her far-left.

It has become "normal" for the far-right/left to eat their own. Code Pink camping out on Pelosi's stoop? Air American couldn't espouse a moderate position if it's life depended on it. Ann Coulter has become a parody of herself. The religious right sees Satan in every picture/video/liberal.

People are tuning out media. Networks are losing viewers (they are not going to cable); newspapers are dead - momentum is all they have going for them right now. The average radio or cable show has a couple million listeners/viewers....many shared. (The Air America crowd watchesOberman, the Rush crowd watches O'Reilly)

People of good intentions on the left get shouted down by the right because if the right gives an inch, the left takes a mile. People of good intentions on the right get shouted down by the left because if the left gives an inch, the right takes a mile. No one wants to give the left/right any more ammunition than they already have so the moderates shut up and leave the field to the fringe - now called "mainstream"

Rush has said that moderates do not get anything done. Only those that take a stand firmly Conservative(Liberal) accomplish great things. He might be right about great things, but every day, every where, moderates stock theWalMart shelves, deliver the gas to the stations, serve in our military and serve in the soup kitchens.

I am proud to be a moderate. Someday, we might even elect one.