"free", "limited", and "lower" are all questions of degree. there is nothing wrong with free markets, limited government, and lower taxes. in fact, they are worthwhile goals no one in his right mind could object to in principle.

what infuriates moderates is that the extremists have hijacked these terms, chosen to define them in such a way that anyone who doesn't use their definitions must obviously favor just the opposite. in this way they get to control the public debate, seize forums like this one for their own purposes, monopolize and polarize the dialogue and force it into their terms and dismiss and discredit anyone with second thoughts as to their program.

they despise centrist and moderate conservatives even more than they do liberal extremists because they cannot use the same smear tactics and knee-jerk criticisms against them. the communists in russia worked the same way, opposing socialists, liberals and moderates even more violently than they did their czarist opponents.

there are conflicting liberal and conservative points of view in all the western democracies, and they continuously debate public issues. in europe, the extreme radical leftists are vocal and influential, while the neofascists are more subdued. but in the united states, the situation seems to be reversed.

the old republican party has been hijacked, and the radical right has enlisted as allies the ugliest demons of the american psyche; reaction, religious fundamentalism, fascism, racism and jingoism, the so-called "cultural conservatives". the better aspects of america; liberalism, tolerance, inclusiveness, diversity and egalitarianism are now condemned and attacked as foreign, alien and evil. and those who recognize and condemn this cynical tactic are denounced (in a masterpiece of misdirection) as "elitist". I believe americans came to their senses just in time.