Moderate in wilderness says: 'Eureka! I found it!'

In a way, I feel like a fool - or at the least, like a less-than-professional Google-searcher.

A few months back, I wrote something that was more of a St. Helens-style venting of steam (and ash) than it was a reasoned piece of political discourse. I called it "A Moderate's Manifesto," and it kvetched about how sick I was (and I'm sure by this point in the election season, many of you are) of the extremist screaming that passes for political debate these days.

Before writing it, I went Googlin' with some search terms that related to "moderates" or "moderate politics" and couldn't come up with stuff better than out of Sweden, for goodness sake. Still, my pal Jake at UtterlyBoring.com was kind enough to post it, and it apparently drew some interest from here and there.

Then, this past weekend, I finally got out of Bend for more than 48 hours - the first time in more than a year. And while my darlin' wife got to attend her Women of Faith convention, I got to spend a couple semi-rainy days at Powell's Bookstore, the Western Hemisphere's reading hangout, where I picked up a fun lil mag, Utne Reader, that I peruse on occasion.

And that's where I found it: the article about the movement that I just knew HAD to be out there, but couldn't put my digital finger on. In this case, it's called the Radical Middle, and while it may be a bit more Radical and a bit less Middle than to my immediate liking, I soon had grabbed the only copy (left) of the book by the same name, which led me to the Website, which in turn has led to such interesting groups (and sites) as the Centrist Coalition.

I personally feel that Radical Middle author Mark Satin has, while putting his fingers on the pulse of something, may have gone too far for many who would just like rational, reasonable debate over issues and some out-of-the-box thinking without throwing away the box. The idea of a combined draft-or-community service requirement for all young Americans of a certain age has its pluses, but I'm not sure how the idea of federalizing ALL public education funding would go over.

To me, it's far more important that there's places out there where people are trying to get beyond the ideas of "opponent as Devil Incarnate" (Rush Limbaugh buys into that on one extreme, Al Franken and most Bush-haters on the other) and look not for "Kumbaya"-singing waffle-fests, but real answers to tough issues that deserve more than rhetoric and finger-pointing. Once you get into the specifics, people might peel off -- but setting up the structure for dialogue beyond the screeds of the Major Party Machines is the crucial part, to my way of thinking.

Nevertheless, I think I've finally found the Mother Lode, when it comes to us folks who think Middle of the Road is where most of us are, and that it doesn't mean you get hit from both directions - as long as there's a well-designed median from which to decide on directional travel. Some from the extremes at both ends of the polar spectrum might call that wishy-washy waffling, but I daresay a majority of Americans would call it a New Reality worth embracing and exploring.

I know I plan to!