Anything can be far-flung into a fundamentalist extreme, be it right or left. Also, I have seen poor representations of the political parties-be they conservative or liberal or moderate. The bias is usually towards the conservative extreme. No, Synder is not a moderate. Much of our "liberals" [[including Obama, but conservatives attacks him for all the wrong things) are more like the conservatives of thirty years ago. Everything got shifted over while we were asleep.

Also, we assume too much of what is a political stance that typifies a party. As if there aren't gay republicans? I saw far too many examples of gay culture with prominence and affluence in many college towns and southern regions [[especially where they would sooner respect a dandy coming from "old money" than they would a tired, humble black minister-real Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil type stuff) covertly courting and bedding conservative parties as tax-break favoring constituents. They are the owners of restaurants, galleries, boutiques, and many other businesses who live in the nicest areas of towns with lush gardens maintained by contractors; they put on a show of "Boo Bush!", "Pat Robertson can piss up a flagpole!" and "Isn't this war just dreadful?" to all the young, idealistic flesh out there, but come voting time....Just look at gated and secure communities like Sundance and the holdings they have in many major corporations [[including oil). A far cry from being genuinely liberal. This was a huge gripe for a lot of wise, old timer liberals living in Madison, WI and Cambridge, MA-not some baseless presumptions on my part here.

The most endangered aspects of liberalism are not anti-censorship [[think of all the rich folks who like their vintage porn), hedonism [[all those date-raping college frat kids on spring break who nepotistically get their careers; let's not forget the the Bohemian Club), abortion [[which used to be supported eugenically by many Repubs prior to the '70s), fighting a disease [[oh yeah, Bush and all his Skull and Bones types who believe in "research and inquiry even at the expense of others" were really against stem-cell research, right?!), or even environmentalism [[actually, many Massachusetts folks quietly praise the Bush family for making many environmental restorations to the New England coast-in a most begrudging sort of muttering way; many post-millennial conservative religious groups, like the Lutherans, are pro-environmental). This notion that perversely rich Republicans are stuffy, dry-mouthed fuddy-duddies is a huge misnomer. Many of our biggest Bacchanalian festivals [[like Mardi Gras) were started by wealthy, racist secret societies. No, I see civil rights regarding race and immigration, an end to capitol punishment, poverty alleviation [[something most politicians don't want to cut their throats on), how war is treated, labor [[including overseas abuses with child labor exploitation),and globalization as being true and endangered aspect of liberalism. Those aspects are no longer being represented by the prominent "liberal" politicians today.