illumined horizon

If you think Americans are largely moderate, and the 'extremists' are only at the fringes, be careful to not question conventional wisdom. Wikipedia says America is between 19 and 26% liberal, and though I actually had a hard time finding an estimate of how conservative America is; I did find this article (it looks to be from a conservative website so I don't know how reliable it is) that suggests 41% of Americans are conservative. This is right around what I had previously heard so I don't strongly doubt either figure.

I question the low ranking for liberal, as the word itself has been demonized more than the word conservative has. In fact, the whole point of Michael Moore's book Dude Where's My Country, is that Americans poll liberal on all kinds of issues, but liberal policies are not enacted because of problems/corruption of the political system...