I have no problem with "moderates" if they're truly liberal and progressive and rowing in the same direction. I actually consider myself to be a moderate. But when moderate means conservative, and enabling excessive concentrations of wealth and power...That means we're rowing in different directions.
Healthcare for example. A lot of us believe there HAS to be a universally available and affordable (sliding scale) public coverage. It is immoral and ineffective to force people to be at the whims of private insurers. The specifics can be negotiated. It might take different forms, either total single payer, or as a universally available public option in a mixed system. But the freeing from tyranny of private insurance is something that can be compromised on if you want to call yourself a progressive.
Big banks need to be divested and made into smaller banks for many reasons, not just "systemic risk." They just have too much of the economy in their vaults, and far too much influence on the economy and political system.
Federal minimum wage.....You have to shoot for $15, even if compromise ends up at $12.....But $15 is the minimum one needs now in reality.....And you have to factor inflation in. By the time $12 or $15 would kick in, a carton of milk that now costs $3.50 will probably cost at least $5......Also remember that gentrification makes the geographic argument moot. People in "low cost" areas are getting driven out by the influence of vacation homes, neighborhood gentrification and otehr factors beyond specific local circumstance.....
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