Moderation

 

Liar, Liar

Liar, liar, pants on fire
Your nose is longer than a telephone wire
Best be leavin' why I'm sad
Been out all night, know you been bad
Don't tell me different, know it's a lie
Come to me, honey, see how I cry

Moderation is no virtue?   What a lie!

One of the greatest lies in American politics was told in the course of the Barry Goldwater campaign for President. “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Liberty is always a virtue. Extremism is always a vice. Justice is always a virtue, as is moderation. This is an example of a false binary outcome. An outcome is not Win or Lose. It is Win, Lose OR Tie. Stating it as liberty and no liberty, or justice and no justice ignores ties,  the  middle ground which is moderate liberty or moderate justice. Is liberty for the individual OR liberty for the group? They are not the same. What is desired is liberty for both, i.e. moderation.

When individuals act as a group, they do not choose an outcome that is best for the group without considering what is best for them as an individual.  That is a Nash Equilibrium, named after mathematician John Nash. It occurs when the outcomes for any individual does not exceed 5/6 of the ideal variance of the group. Thus the battle between individuals and society, fascism and democracy, left and right, Democrat and Republican, populism and pluralism, or conservative and liberal, are all false dichotomies. It is the Nash Equilibrium, moderation for the group, which should prevail.

When the American voters are given the chance, they will choose moderation for the group, and the result may be perceived as a landslide by the side that opposes that moderation. This was evident in the Barry Goldwater election. Unfortunately, it is also true when a candidate lies that they are moderate for the group, as in the election of Richard Nixon over George McGovern. “Both sides” also ignores moderation. There are three outcomes, not two, and hopefully journalists will present all of three, and not just two sides.