Who Is Afraid of Moderation? | Aurelian Craiutu | Notre Dame CCCG

Notre Dame Con Studies Public Lecture Series · Jun 16, 2025 · 1h 13m

Aurelian Craiutu is Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. His most recent book is Why Not Moderation? Letters to Young Radicals, from Cambridge University Press.

In previewing his talk, Craiutu says "Moderation is a contested concept that, with surprisingly few exceptions, is absent from our public debates. Today, the single famous line that people sometimes may remember belongs to Barry Goldwater: 'Extremism in the pursuit of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.'

Although Goldwater’s skepticism toward…