yes, the terminology is certainly confusing. "accidental moderate" seems intentionally "moderate on average", as in some reversion to the mean kind of claim, bu

yes, the terminology is certainly confusing. "accidental moderate" seems intentionally "moderate on average", as in some reversion to the mean kind of claim, but is opposed to an "intentional moderate", who seems to fall into moderation by default. what's left unsaid, but i find more thought-provoking, is the notion that, as with the fringe ideologues, you can safely ignore the "intentional moderate" since they don't add to the conversation (because they don't think deeply about politics). intellectual independence seems integral to why his "most impressive people" are impressive in the first place--they delve deeper into questions/challenges to form their opinions rather than adopting them wholesale from others.