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Richard Meadows's avatar

No object-level comment, just wanted to say I've really been enjoying your posts lately. Nice one!

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Cydex's avatar

I think the confusion stems from the fact that the term « moderate » makes it seem like you sit in the middle of an issue. Wouldn’t you say that « independent » more closely describes that attitude? It’s not so much that you’re opinion is halfway from both either side’s, but rather that, when they say « black » or « white », you’re willing to accept 50 shades of grey depending of your assessment of the merits of the decision.

I think what left- and right-leaning people have in common is that their political alignment is a big part of their identity, which makes it hard for them to stray too far away from the professed opinion of their side, whereas moderates (or rather, independents) don’t tie their identity to a platform. That doesn’t make them more right or wrong (they could pick the wrong side every single time).

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