How about government based on data and tests rather than religion and dogma. Many moderates are simply not passionate about politics. I am passionate about science and that even political decisions should be based on real world data. No child left behind was based on a great ideal with all kinds of totally untested rules. It has not been a great success and the idea of mainstreaming mentally handicapped kids is great for them but takes no account of the negative impact on other students by taking their teachers attention away from then to put in the extra effort to keep the slower students up with the regular ones. It might have been great if mainstreaming included adequate funding for aides dedicated to the slower students so that the main teacher would not have to spend less time on regular students.

A rational party would test programs such as this before foisting a poorly funded mandate on the states. A rational party would balance income with spending. A rational party would believe enough in basic math that they would place a priority on fixing social security and welfare. A rational party would measure the impact of it's stimulous packages and compare to past results rather than proposing the same old same old based solely on an ideology that has consistently run up deficits. A rational party would realize that it is the balanced greed of capitlism that makes it good for most people not that greed is inherently good and things will work out just fine if it is left to run free and unregulated. A rational party would realize that an educated populace makes a strong democracy and a strong economy and that every student deserves a good education. A rational party would realize that economies and democracies that work most efficiently are ones based on equal opportunity where everyone gets to use their unique talents to the best of their ability not ones warped by inherited wealth, privilege, bribes (masssive political contributions), or insider connnections.
A rational party would realize real world problems are complicated requiring a careful balance of forces rather than pushing a lever full to the right, left, or up or down. A rational party would note delude itself into thinking it could rig the electoral process to build a lock on power.

Regards,
Mark