From The Inquistor; February 16, 2017

By John Butler

Now more than ever, being a political moderate is extremely challenging for those who do not agree wholeheartedly with either of the two major political parties’ ideologies.

The polarizing nature of the most recent p**********l nomination campaign, p**********l e******n, and subsequent activity by the current administration have pitted friends and family alike against each other, forcing people to choose a side. While the Republican/Democrat rivalry has existed for well over a century, tensions between supporters of the two sides have rarely been so intense during the last 30 years, even including the Monica Lewinsky scandal during Bill Clinton’s tenure as president.

The definition that comes up on Google is “In politics and religion, a moderate is an individual who is not extreme, partisan, nor radical. In recent years, the term political moderates has gained traction as a buzzword. The existence of the ideal moderate is disputed because of a lack of a moderate political ideology.”

Essentially, a true political moderate is someone who does not hold to a party line, who may disagree with aspects of the GOP while supporting other agendas. The moderate may agree with portions of the Democratic party’s purposes while opposing others.

As most of us are well aware, the intensity of the recent e******n and the actions of the current administration have raised tensions on virtually all major matters to unseen heights. Social media users unfriend people for their political views now more than ever. Twitter, that bastion of Trump interaction, buzzes constantly, with more and more bans coming every day due to the vehemence of people on both sides of issues.

The concept of us versus them, Red or Blue, and that only one side is correct are all partly at fault for the challenges political moderates face. If I, who has many conservative Republican family members, were to say something in support of Obamacare, I would likely receive backlash from those comments. On the other hand, were I to come out on social media in support of Donald Trump’s immigration freeze, I would likely have many of my liberal friends comment angrily or unfriend me.

As such, political moderates who voice opinions tend to lose out either way. The current political climate is decidedly unfriendly towards anyone who has not picked a side in the ongoing debates. Even criticizing a clear blunder by one party or another will bring the wrath of half of America down on a someone’s head.

By definition, if you have aligned with a party than you are essentially "partisan". The extent to which one may be partisan is the defining factor when determining whether they are moderately partisan or just plain partisan. I have noticed that any Republican that appears to be a moderate Republican lately is typically being called a "rino". It would seem that if you do not toe the Republican line on every issue, you are not a true Republican. There doesn't seem to be much loyalty on that side of politics, you either support every portion of the Republican agenda or you aren't a true Republican. I haven't noticed any Democrat being called a "dino" as yet but only time will tell if that term becomes a thing or not.

I agree that we should be striving for moderation. Moderation is an excellent goal that we should ALL strive for. There is a reason why I do not align myself with any one party, no party in my opinion has ALL the answers, no one party aligns with me on EVERY issue. There are some issues where I can agree with Democrats, there are others where I can't, same goes for the Republican party as well, though lately there has been far too much extremism in the Republican party so I tend to pull further from them lately.

Balance is key, the Republican party tends to favor business over individual. While we need business for prosperity, we can't ignore individual or we end up with miserable citizens. The Democratic party tends to favor individuals over business. While looking after the safety and security of the individual is a good thing, you don't want to do that to the undue burdening of the businesses or they are likely to send their jobs elsewhere where they have more freedom to conduct business they way they want to. We MUST strive for the happy medium between the two ideologies, something that some to most do not seem willing to do. To far too many now days, it is black or white, there is no middle ground, gray does not seem to exist for them. While I personally think gray is an ugly color, I am all for gray where as it comes to politics, that is the area in which we should try to remain politically speaking.

You have brought forth an excellent topic for discussion Slats, I hope it gains the attention it deserves, kudos to you.

I didn't have the same experience as you during the Obama administration it would seem. I disagreed with some of what the Democrats and even Obama himself was pushing for and never felt I was being persecuted for my thoughts. I did have to defend my view points and those I was speaking to didn't always end up agreeing with me in the end but I don't think they ever considered me to be r****t or bigoted just because I disagreed. Perhaps it comes down to how we choose to disagree that causes others to consider us r****t or not consider us r****t.

From The Inquistor; February 16, 2017

By John Butler

Now more than ever, being a political moderate is extremely challenging for those who do not agree wholeheartedly with either of the two major political parties’ ideologies.

The polarizing nature of the most recent p**********l nomination campaign, p**********l e******n, and subsequent activity by the current administration have pitted friends and family alike against each other, forcing people to choose a side. While the Republican/Democrat rivalry has existed for well over a century, tensions between supporters of the two sides have rarely been so intense during the last 30 years, even including the Monica Lewinsky scandal during Bill Clinton’s tenure as president.

The definition that comes up on Google is “In politics and religion, a moderate is an individual who is not extreme, partisan, nor radical. In recent years, the term political moderates has gained traction as a buzzword. The existence of the ideal moderate is disputed because of a lack of a moderate political ideology.”

Essentially, a true political moderate is someone who does not hold to a party line, who may disagree with aspects of the GOP while supporting other agendas. The moderate may agree with portions of the Democratic party’s purposes while opposing others.

As most of us are well aware, the intensity of the recent e******n and the actions of the current administration have raised tensions on virtually all major matters to unseen heights. Social media users unfriend people for their political views now more than ever. Twitter, that bastion of Trump interaction, buzzes constantly, with more and more bans coming every day due to the vehemence of people on both sides of issues.

The concept of us versus them, Red or Blue, and that only one side is correct are all partly at fault for the challenges political moderates face. If I, who has many conservative Republican family members, were to say something in support of Obamacare, I would likely receive backlash from those comments. On the other hand, were I to come out on social media in support of Donald Trump’s immigration freeze, I would likely have many of my liberal friends comment angrily or unfriend me.

As such, political moderates who voice opinions tend to lose out either way. The current political climate is decidedly unfriendly towards anyone who has not picked a side in the ongoing debates. Even criticizing a clear blunder by one party or another will bring the wrath of half of America down on a someone’s head.