In politics, meeting in the middle is often a useful and necessary thing. But it isn’t itself an adequate ethical yardstick.
midterm elections
The glory of American politics is that voters get to "throw the rascals out"—whether or not they understand who the rascals are or the nature of the crisis the nation is in. Very little could have done by any government during this worldwide economic slowdown to address the high unemployment, except more government stimulus, which is what voters say they don't want.