The Case For Reasonableness

Most of my political heroes have tended to be moderates; Kennedy, Eisenhower, Proxmire, Percy, Brooke, Javits, McKinney (the McKinney Act - google it), Boren, Cohen, Rudman, Tsongas, Nunn (his stumping for don't ask, don't tell - obviously excepted), Breaux, Chaffee (father and son), and yes, for my money, Bill Clinton (who, yes, I would probably keep away from my niece) and Gerry Ford, too. Not, mind you, that I myself am ALWAYS a moderate. On issues such as gay-rights and warrantless wiretapping, I am farther to the left than Obama is ever likely to be (granted, he has the safety of the nation to consider and all). And, no, moderation isn't always necessarily the prudent/best thing. Civil rights in the 60s - that was something that had to be taken on vociferously (for example)..........................................................................................................But, yes, folks, many times it IS the prudent thing. Take Afghanistan, for example. Yes, we were absolutely justified to go in and annihilate Al Qaeda, maybe even to smack around the Taliban a little. But to stay....and to stay, and to nation-build, that, me-buckos, has proven to be utterly purposeless. And it has HURT our national security (don't even get me going on Iraq). And then, of course, there's the stimulus. Yes, we more than likely needed one. But what we didn't need to do was blow a huge hole in the deficit and bloat it all up with pork-barrel spending. You see what I'm saying here, folks - moderation?