What is a moderate?

Back in November, I wrote a substack post describing various dimension of political moderation. You can go read the longer details, but here’s the abridged list: You have a middle-ground position on a policy issue(s). The classic definition. Maybe You have a mushy centrist position on abortion or slavery. You buck your party on important issues. You are a pro-gun Democrat or pro-choice Republican. The positions themselves aren’t middle ground, you just aren’t with the the party you identify with. You don’t identify with a political party and/or you are a swing voter. An overlap with independent. Your positions aren’t centrist, they’re just all over the place. Raise the minimum wage. Ban abortion. Expand the ACA. Reduce immigration. You voted for Obama and Trump. You are a compromiser. You prefer to cut deals and get half a loaf rather than refuse to bargain in hopes of getting your way. This is theoretically completely independent of ideology. You are a pragmatist. A preference for…