Progressive Politics

look at two positions and decide that the truth must lie between them.

that’s not what i’m saying at all… moderate means “within bounds”… ie not extreme policies, and some policies are by definition more extreme than their polar opposite

with that said, when moving entire societies from a position of discrimination against a minority, for example, it is an extreme position to say that laws should be updated ASAP to stop discrimination. governments should move slowly, for a couple of reasons (at least)

• moving fast enables moving fast toward either extreme… if the civil rights movement could have had what it wanted overnight, then they were also 1 “but the economy” election away from slavery coming back. governments should always trail behind society at large, because government used in this way is a tool for restricting 1 persons freedom in the interest of another, and restricting freedoms should always be done slow enough that people can fight back… as horrible as that is for minorities at the time, it means those freedoms can’t be rolled back on a whim
• if laws changed overnight, people would just not respond well just because they’re used to the alternative… it takes a while for the populace to adjust to new social norms. laws should follow the population largely agreeing that the laws are fair and just - absolutely not the other way around. the government works for the people, and doesn’t exist to serve only minority interests

You are reducing politics to statistics

i’m reducing systems for running elections to statistics, and that’s exactly what they should be: the system to elect representatives should be BORING, and as proportional as possible, and the outcome of that is, largely, that extremes just don’t come out on top

and that’s a good thing for government

if it’s meant to be, people’s positions will change over time and that will be reflected at the ballot box… biasing government to moderate changes means that there’s less hate

you shift the overton window over years if not decades; not in a day