On both sides of the center we have people who want to legislate their values, rather than persuade society of their ideas. Those people tend to get elected in "safe" districts and stay for life. In the last election the people who voted in the Democratic candidates were shocked by the people who have been choosen as the party's leaders, just as the Republican voters had been shocked by the actions of the "conservative" Republicans. Neither liberalism or conservatism should be an ideaology to be used (instead of thinking of a solution) to the next problem. Rather it should describe a person' s or group's approach to problem solving. And ideaologists, who are not thinkers, should not get elected to offices that require thinking through problems.