Can you be too extreme in moderation?

This is a post about a new insight on life... so if you are not interested, just skip it. I won't be offended. I would rather you skip it than read it and be annoyed the whole time.

Since coming to Washington DC, I have discovered that I am a politically moderate person. This means that I am neither a democrat or a republican; on many issues, I understand both sides; my feelings on issues usually are somewhere between the two political parties.

I have claimed for a while that I was moderate, but part of it used to be because I simply was undecided on several issues. But my moderation now is not unclear or resulting from my lack of knowledge on the issues, but because I really am between the two sides.

I am decidedly moderate on many (if not all) political issues.

Often when I describe myself as moderate or independent, people take that to mean "undecided", "uninformed", or "please try to convince me of your party's correctness because I just don't know." But these assumptions are incorrect. I have thought about the issues and I often know where I stand. Just because it is not with either side does not mean I am unclear. Nor does it mean that I do not care. Political Science is my major- it matters to me.

Part of me thinks that being moderate is the right way to go for everyone. Moderates recognize there are rights and wrongs on both sides. They look for the rational behind all sides. They listen to all people and do not vote on party lines, but rather what they actually dis/agree with. Moderation is somewhat synonymous with rationale in my mind.

But I recently have realized this is not be true, at least not for me... I am extreme in my moderation!

What this means: I have a hard time taking any extreme seriously. If someone is extremely conservative or liberal, I often dismiss what they say. If someone says they just love Bill O'Reilly, I roll my eyes. If someone says Randi Rhodes has all of the answers, I chuckle to myself. If they think Obama is a demigod, I begin to tune them out. If they think Obama is Hitler reincarnated, it goes in one ear and out the other. Extreme people lose their credibility with me.

It's horrible. I am doing exactly what I blame the extreme people for doing. I judge them and do not give their argument a fair chance because I assume they have not given any other arguments a chance. Therefore, I am being extreme in my moderation and doing the vey thing I claim to dislike so much.

I do not know if this is making any sense, but from this new insight I have made a new goal:

I am going to be more moderate in my moderation.