Perhaps your 'moderate' friends are actually conservatives and simply don't know it yet. Search their hearts to see if they believe in the Constitution, free enterprise and personal liberty. There is hope if they respond positively.
Otherwise they are in need of focused deprogramming. I'm sure you can convinnce them over time with love that government IS the problem.
Ben, some of the problem re the Constitution is that it is
not clear on some of the issues of the day that people feel strongly about. So asking whether someone believes in the Constitution isn't very useful - everyone would say yes, but that doesn't mean they agree with conservatives on all the issues. Free enterprise and smaller government - no problem. Personal liberty - yes, but. Many moderates are uncomfortable with the tendency of some conservatives, including our president, to advocate for personal liberty but with strings attached. I will say it again, the same sex marriage issue and the president's support for a constitutional amendment leaves many of them very cold. What is
more personal than not having the liberty to marry the person we love? From a rational point of view, gender is and should be irrelevant.
As to deprogramming, ewwww, that's a scary concept indeed.
Thanks for writing.
Polygirl