WTF is a "Moderate" Anyway?

From time to time I hear people pining for reasonable "moderates", centrists, and bi-partisans to come together and solve the problems that our political parties won't.  These arguments are non-sensical, self-congratulatory, completely devoid of the political system we operate in, and in many ways...extreme.  There are many problems with the desire for "moderates", among them...

Moderates aren't that moderate

As mentioned in this piece by Ezra Klein, the policies moderates actually believe in aren't that moderate.  It's possible to be a "moderate" who believes in gay rights, supports internment camps for Muslims, wants universal health care, and wants to eliminate the IRS.  None of those policy positions are moderate, but by virtue of statistics, those voters would be considered moderates.

Even insofar as "moderates" exist in American politics, their positions are highly ideological, just not particularly partisan.  For example, there is a certain segment of both parties that embraces things like free-trade, education reform, entitlement reform, austerity, and exploitive immigration.  These are positions that are extremely neoliberal, corporatist, in many cases a divergence from the status quo, and not at all in the interest of most of the American people, but in the context of American politics "moderate".

Podcast 4/21/2016: Moderate Headaches

In this episode, Vinny and I discuss the never-ending saga of marijuana legalization in Vermont, our frenemy Saudi Arabia, the criminals behind the impeachment of Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, the bizarre but prevalent notion of political moderates, New York's primary, fraud in the Northeast Kingdom, the NFL concussion settlement, and more.

http://s51.podbean.com/pb/34b76ec08239f06a7215f684f8fe5cd9/57229f6d/data2/fs181/958366/uploads/Podcast_4-21-2016Full.mp3

NSFW

Notes:

• Speculation on the still classified 28 pages of the 9/11 report.
• A little on the bill that would allow American citizens to sue Saudi Arabia for terrorism.  In my view (and I'm certainly not a lawyer) this would set a bad precedent and potentially open us up to all sorts of legal action.  Could citizens of Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Iran, El Salvador, and/or Iraq sue us?  Would everyone in the world just start suing each other?  Declassify the 28 pages, stop selling them weapons, and stop helping them in Yemen, but allowing civil action might be a bad idea.
• Foreign workers accounted for roughly 30% of Saudi Arabia's population in 2014.
• A look at what is behind the push to impeach Brazil's Presiden Dilma Rousseff.
• The massive fraud in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.  Looks like the underlying investment return was supposed to come from the sales of property and rents on condos.  In retrospect, it seems like people should have been much more skeptical.
• The extensive alleged criminal past of California Representative and former chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Darrell Issa.  It involves grand theft auto, arson, fraud, gun play, and drunk driving.
• Issa's net worth may be closer to $220 million rather than the $500 million figure I cited.

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