The moderate paradox is that, while moderate positions are praised as superior to extremist positions, they are actually defined by extremist positions. The moderate is an echo of an extremist’s voice, and is it the extremist who defines society, politics and culture. A moderate is a man who allows himself to be defined by extremists and there is nothing praiseworthy about that.
That is why the left is so obsessed with “right-wing extremism” and so eager to call for moderation on the Republican side. It knows that extremists shift the dialogue space to the right while moderates allow it to shift further to the left.
Moderates will not change America. Rather, they have already accepted that they will be changed. Change does not come from moderates, it comes from extremists whose eagerness to push the bubble is what brings change.