I’m still opposing this term “moderate.” This so-called moderation is actually policy differences. For example, pro-choicers don’t hold this position because they’ve concluded it’s better to be moderate, or to meet the left halfway on fetal rights; they consider reproductive choice to be correct policy. Nothing moderate about it.
The same goes for Republicans who don’t oppose gay marriage, who support amnesty, who believe in man-made global warming, etc. It seems to me we’ll have to either duke it out over these issues one by one or try to figure out what the core principles of conservative government are and then see which of these issues simply fall off the platform on their own to be taken up by popular opinion, private institutions, and state governments.
