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The Mythical Middle: Why moderates are Dangerous.
The Silent Majority ^ | 10-01-10 | SouthernMan

Posted on 10/01/2010 6:34:11 AM PDT by Lexluthor69

The Mythical Middle: Why moderates are dangerous.

What is a moderate? Who, exactly, lives in the middle of the political spectrum? More importantly, why does anyone care?

In politics and religion, a moderate is an individual who is not extreme, partisan or radical.

Politicians are always seeking out the votes of the mythical moderates, independents and undecided. We hear how politicians move to the “middle” to garner votes or stem a tide of resentment towards their policies. We hear politicians admonished to tone down the rhetoric less they scare away moderate voters. President Clinton comes to mind, most recently, utilizing this strategy to retain office after his party suffered a catastrophic mid-term defeat.

But what exactly is a moderate and do they, collectively, represent a significant voting block? Some would argue that they do:

Which brings us to the Tea Party. Despite all the headlines about their impact on the upcoming midterms, I have a theory that out in the political heartland, the trashing by the Tea Partiers may be preparing the battlefield for a much more profound second wave of disaffected, independent voters, who could make the Tea Party look like, well, a tea party.

I’ve always called them the Militant Middle, and Gary Butts is a founding member. “It’s about time the moderates stood up and said, ‘Hey, we’re in the majority here!’”

He is with ModerateVoters.org, based in Irvine, California, and he says the Militant Middle started growing and coalescing around a broad slogan of “Throw the bums out” long before the Tea Party even started brewing — and now it’s reached a boiling point.(SOURCE)

(Excerpt) Read more at silentmajority09.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: conservative; liberal; middle; moderate
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To: Lexluthor69

World’s shortest book - “Great Moderates in History.”


21 posted on 10/04/2010 9:41:46 AM PDT by dfwgator (Texas Rangers - AL West Champions)
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To: Daveinyork

That “one Libertarian” was the strongest, most successful candidate that libertarians have ever fielded.

Libertarians are called low tax, liberals because of this agenda.

Here is the leftists agenda hidden behind the Libertarian Party curtain.

Libertarian Party Platform (they have concealed some of this since 2004):

Throw open the borders completely; only a rare individual (terrorist, disease carrier etc.) can be kept from freedom of movement through “political boundaries”.

Homosexuals; total freedom in the military, gay marriage, adoption, child custody and everything else.

Abortion; zero restrictions or impediments.

Pornography; no restraint, no restrictions.

Drugs; Meth, Heroin, Crack, and anything new that science can come up with, zero restrictions.

Advertising those drugs, prostitution, and pornography; zero restrictions.

Military Strength; minimal capabilities.


22 posted on 10/04/2010 9:42:22 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12

do you favor smaller or larger government?


23 posted on 10/04/2010 10:17:03 AM PDT by Daveinyork
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To: Daveinyork

I favor a massive reduction in the size of government, that is why I want to stop the left’s fifth column assault of the “libertarian” branch of liberalism.

See post 22, about the ‘low tax, liberal” party.

From wiki;
“The first person to describe himself as a libertarian was Joseph Déjacque, an early French anarchist communist. The word stems from the French word libertaire, and was used to evade the French ban on anarchist publications. In this tradition, the term “libertarianism” in “libertarian socialism” is generally used as a synonym for anarchism, which some say is the original meaning of the term; hence “libertarian socialism” is equivalent to “socialist anarchism” to these scholars. In the context of the European socialist movement, libertarian has conventionally been used to describe those who opposed state socialism, such as Mikhail Bakunin. In the United States, the movement most commonly called libertarianism follows a capitalist philosophy; the term libertarian socialism therefore strikes many Americans as a contradiction in terms.

However, the association of socialism with libertarianism predates that of capitalism, and many anti-authoritarians still decry what they see as a mistaken association of capitalism with libertarianism in the United States. As Noam Chomsky put it, a consistent libertarian “must oppose private ownership of the means of production and the wage slavery which is a component of this system, as incompatible with the principle that labor must be freely undertaken and under the control of the producer.”

In a chapter recounting the history of libertarian socialism, economist Robin Hahnel relates that thus far the period where libertarian socialism has had its greatest impact was at the end of the 19th century through the first four decades of the twentieth century.

“Early in the twentieth century, libertarian socialism was as powerful a force as social democracy and communism. The Libertarian International– founded at the Congress of Saint Imier a few days after the split between Marxist and libertarians at the congress of the Socialist International held in The Hague in 1872– competed successfully against social democrats and communists alike for the loyalty of anticapitalist activists, revolutionaries, workers, unions and political parties for over fifty years. Libertarian socialists played a major role in the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917. Libertarian socialists played a dominant role in the Mexican Revolution of 1911. Twenty years after World War I was over, libertarian socialists were still strong enough to spearhead the social revolution that swept across Republican Spain in 1936 and 1937.”


24 posted on 10/04/2010 10:26:42 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12

You are a libertarian. Be careful how you slander thyself.


25 posted on 10/04/2010 10:34:31 AM PDT by Daveinyork
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To: Daveinyork

You are just too bizarre.


26 posted on 10/04/2010 10:45:40 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: ansel12

I take back what I said about you being a government worker. You must be a university associate professor. You are totally lost in semantics, bizarre semanitics, to use your terminology.

A libertarian wants less government, and more freedom. It’s just that simple.


27 posted on 10/04/2010 11:01:59 AM PDT by Daveinyork
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To: Daveinyork

Leftists support that agenda in post 22, no matter what they call themselves.


28 posted on 10/04/2010 11:08:39 AM PDT by ansel12
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