Posted by
Curt Day on Friday, November 10, 2006 10:19:07 PM
When I claim to be a political extreme moderate, the wife rolls her eyes. When I define what an extreme moderate is, she rolls them again. One of these days, her eyes will get stuck.
Anyone who always takes the same approach is often called an extremist. Those who wish to use military force to solve every political crisis are called an extremist. Likewise, anyone who always reacts to conflict with pacifism is an extremist. Thus, anyone who is a moderate on every issue is an extremist.
So the question is, what is a moderate? Most who think of conservative, moderate or liberal think of positions on issues. For example, those who have a conservative view on the abortion issue are pro-life while those who have a liberal view on abortion are pro-choice. But to think of conservativism or liberalism in terms of positions leads to authoritarianism. That is if we wish to have a conservative view on abortion, we first consult recognized conservatives and hope our position is aligned with theirs. Similarly, if we wish to have a liberal view on abortion, we hope that our view is the same view as that of recognized liberals.
Thus, we should consider thinking of moderate, conservative, and liberal in terms of process of thought rather than position. When we emphasize how we think than what position we have, we will see that both conservatism and liberalism are similar in process. Why? This is because the more liberal or conservative one is, the more reductionistic that person is when viewing issues. For example, the more conservative a person is when viewing abortion, the more that person will only consider the rights of the unborn child. Likewise, the more liberal a person is regarding abortion, the more that person will only consider the rights of the woman.
So what is the moderate process? The moderate process is opposite of reductionism. That is, instead of reducing a subject to a single issue, a person who practices the moderate process of thought will include multiple issues when formulating an opinion. So, to follow the moderate process when deciding on abortion, one includes the rights of the woman as well as the rights of the unborn child. This does not imply that the moderate process will always result in a middle of the road position. It just means that a moderate person will consider as many issues as possible when determining a matter rather than using only one issue.
We run into problems when we practice reductionism. This is an approach that is commonly used by politicians and is, not coincidentally, an exercise in all or nothing thinking which is unhealthy.