The Deluded Moderate

Kevin Drum at the Washington Monthly pines for the great Moderate Messiah who will sweep away the extremist wings of both parties and give birth to a new era of sweet moderation. Trouble is the concept of The Moderate is a myth. There is an opportunity to break free from the Democrat/Republican shackles and start a new movement, but it won't be moderate in the sense Drum conceives it. All one would have to do is take the following positions:
Strong opposition to illegal immigration
Opposition to imported labor
Opposition to outsourcing
Opposition to racial preferences
Opposition to homosexual marriage
Support for the death penalty
Support for increases in the minimum wage

These are some winner issues based on polling. Some of them, such as ending racial preferences and outlawing homosexual marriage have already been proven to be big winners at the polls. But a quick glance also shows these cut across party lines - neither party is behind all of them, and neither party is behind some of them. They also don't fit the "moderate" label too well. Sorry all you moderates out there - there's just very little constituency for a fiscally-conservative, socially-progressive, free-trade minded National Health Insurance supporting centrist.