Moderation in spending, eating, lovemaking, aggression, and philosophy led me to a kind of Zen that gave me peace. Well, I often forget moderation when it comes to politics. Politics often make me so angry that I slide toward one end of the teeter-totter or the other, and I lose sight of the fact that politics, like all things, is best measured in moderation.
Extremists are harmful to the process.
They blow up federal buildings in Oklahoma and set Los Angeles on fire and stage riotous protests in Seattle, based simply on passion and principle. I think that most Americans are moderate. If you look at patterns in voting, you can see that most of the presidents in recent history have been selected out of a sense of correction against extremes. The tide turned in 1992 when America was tired of Republican chest thumping and voted Clinton in on the idea that it was time for a change. Clinton won re-election in 1996 not so much because he was a great guy, but because Republican politicians had grown quite radical and everyone was afraid to let them run this country.