Yes, this is where we are, and have been for quite a long time. The country has always dealt with divisive issues, over time with compromise. Set a course, identify what works, fix what doesn't. Over time (sometimes a long time) mistakes are repealed, new solutions arise. There have always been anti-immigrant waves - the Irish, the Chinese - who ever is showing up in noticeable numbers, but over time people blend in, the fabric is re-woven a bit and people move on. The Civil War was clearly a time when the ability to compromise died and the nation fractured. In some ways we are in a very rigid mindset, but I think we may be approaching a period when things could start to move forward again. Even when things appear similar, they are different so there is no clear guess on how things will resolve, but we will see.
It is not so much that the moderates are shouted down, as it is that nobody is looking beyond their staked out positions. All ideas that worked started out as extreme. Through debate and implementation they became workable policy.
