Politicians Shouldn’t Have To Be This Moderate All The Time

You should actually ban fracking, though.

The most notable moments of the Vice Presidential debate came when Kamala Harris and Mike Pence sparred over fracking and packing the court. Harris denied that Joe Biden would ban fracking, and danced around the question of whether a Biden administration would try to add more judges to the Supreme Court. Pence pushed the issues hard, when he wasn’t telling you he was going to cut your taxes.

During the debate, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, “Fracking is bad, actually.” Both candidates, the only two with a chance to take the White House, spent the debate evading each other, trying to appeal to one small section of moderate voters. They didn’t feel far apart while they were doing it; in fact, they felt too similar, like they were on either side of a small circle, fighting for the middle.

The problem is that many Americans find themselves outside of that circle. The major parties have operated under the perception that most Americans are moderate and adverse to anything that might be considered radical. While there is majority support for some staunchly progressive issues — look at access to healthcare, for example, and the Black Lives Matter movement — the electoral college and the relatively small section of decisive voters render moderation a necessity.