The Myth of the Moderate

How the Middle Paves the Road to Extremism

I have a confession: I used to think “moderate” meant “reasonable.” Calm, measured, sensible. Like the Goldilocks of politics, not too hot, not too cold, just right. But after the last decade in America, and especially now under the new Trump administration, I’ve learned that “moderate” often means “too polite to stop a house fire, but happy to argue about the color of the flames.”

The center has shifted so far right that if you stand in the middle today, you’re still knee-deep in extremism. And while many are busy congratulating themselves for avoiding the “radical left” or the “radical right,” the rest of us are watching our democracy get strip-mined in real time.

The House Is Burning and the Center Keeps Watching

Let’s start with the political earthquake that was Project 2025. It’s the dream manual for every authoritarian with a pen, a blueprint to dismantle the federal government, purge civil servants who don’t toe the MAGA line, and hand the keys of the country to a handful of far-right ideologues. And it’s not a fringe fantasy. They are implementing it, piece by piece, while moderates tell us we should “wait and see” how it plays out. Waiting and seeing is how you miss the fact that the house is already on fire.

Meanwhile, the gerrymandering is so shameless you’d think they were drawing congressional maps with a drunk Etch A Sketch. Republican lawmakers are carving up districts to make sure they cannot lose, ever, and yet we still hear the sermon about “both sides” being equally guilty. Spoiler: only one side is actively writing democracy out of the script, and it is not the democratic party.

And here’s where it gets worse: public education is under siege. Not just the book bans and teacher firings; they are trying to lower the legal marrying age to 14 in some states. Let’s be clear: this is not about “parental rights.” It is about rolling the clock back on child protection and bodily autonomy. It is about control, and the center’s silence is helping it along. It is about predators who harm children getting away with it because the age of consent has changed. It is about children working in fields doing hard, grueling labor because they cut public education funding or rolled into 4-day school weeks. My friend Jess Piper has been sounding this alarm for years.

State Violence and the Shrinking Space for Justice

If that wasn’t enough, we already have concentration camps on U.S. soil. We can dress it up with words like “detention facilities” or “temporary holding,” but if you’re locking up families and children in mass facilities, that’s a camp. And if those families are disproportionately brown and Black, that’s not random; it’s policy. We have citizens arrested for “fitting a description,” which is political-speak for “being the wrong color in the wrong place.”

Now add this to the pile: federal troops deployed in Los Angeles and D.C., with threats of more to come. Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and food assistance. Slashes to the CDC and NIH. Rolling back vaccine mandates like we learned nothing from the last pandemic. Cancelling the Corporation for Public Broadcasting because apparently, the Antiques Roadshow is now too political. And firing scientists, analysts, and anyone else who dares to deliver accurate information.

The Global Consequences of a Compromised Conscience

And to top it all off, we are living in a world where the genocide in Gaza is met with silence from some quarters and open antisemitism from others. Both are dangerous. Both are unacceptable. We also have the release of the Epstein files, which should be sparking a national conversation about corruption, exploitation, and the powerful protecting each other, but the news cycle is too busy chasing whatever fresh chaos comes off the Trump press machine.

This isn’t a bad week in politics. This is the architecture of authoritarianism, brick by brick. And here’s the kicker: none of this gets stopped by “meeting in the middle.”

Moderation, in the way it’s currently sold, isn’t about balance or pragmatism. It’s about maintaining the status quo for those already comfortable, while urging the rest of us to calm down and compromise with people who would happily legislate us out of existence. It’s a trap that demands we accept injustice as long as it’s not too loud about it.

A Blueprint for Defiance: Building Power Beyond Moderation

We start by rebranding the Democratic Party. Not as “the party of the left” that ship has sailed, but as the party of the people who still believe in democracy. Drop the consultant-tested slogans and start telling the truth in plain language. When Republicans ban books, say, “They are banning books.” When they gut healthcare, say, “They are making it harder for you to see a doctor.” Call the thing what it is.

Next, we stop outsourcing hope to presidential elections. Authoritarianism is fought locally. That means building real, on-the-ground power in school boards, city councils, and state legislatures. It means running candidates who actually represent the communities they serve, not the donor class. And it means giving people something tangible to fight for, not just a list of things we’re against.

We also have to get over our allergy to coordinated action. Moderates love to talk about “finding common ground,” but the only ground worth finding right now is the kind you can stand on together while you push back. That means coalition building, labor unions, climate activists, racial justice groups, educators, and healthcare advocates, not siloed movements that occasionally retweet each other.

And yes, we need to get more comfortable with making noise. Public protests, digital organizing, rapid-response campaigns, and sustained pressure on elected officials. Authoritarians thrive in quiet rooms where deals get made in the shadows. We must drag the conversation into the light.

Finally, we need to remind people, relentlessly, that there’s nothing “radical” about wanting to live in a functioning democracy. They moved the middle. We didn’t.

The real myth of the moderate is that you can keep your hands clean while the world burns. But history doesn’t remember those who kept their hands clean; it remembers those who put out the fire.

Dr. Amber Benge is a community organizer and political strategist based in Missouri. She writes about power, people, protest, and what it means to build movements rooted in love, humility, and action.