What Is A Moderate?

There are certain problems government can't fix. For example, the housing bubble was a simple asset bubble. Governments can and should take steps to limit the interconnectivity of the economy such that an asset bubble doesn't spread to other sectors, but asset bubbles and the associated hangovers will always be with us. The obesity "epidemic" is also not particularly amenable to government action. Government can tweak things on the margins (education, more food choices) but at the end of the day, exercise and diet decisions have to be left to the individual.

Having said that, other issues are amenable to government action. Some people are either too sick or too poor (or both) to afford the health care they need. There is no market solution for that. As long as emitting greenhouse gases is free or extremely cheap, we'll emit a lot of them. The only way to decrease the amount is by government action. Geo-engineering schemes aren't that cheap, and the only way to make money off of them is to get paid by government.

There was a recent and long article which points out that conservative thought simply refuses to accept the need for government action. You should read the whole thing, but the most powerful line from the article is "If government intervention appears to be the answer, they must change the question."

I would submit that a practical definition of a political moderate is somebody who recognizes that, while there are problems that government can't or shouldn't* solve, sometimes government action is needed and right.



* Shouldn't in that the solution could only be done by a violation of our rights.