Interesting response. I'm always amazed at the prevalence of the left/right linear model of political thought (your left-of-center phrase). For a centrist, it's probably more like a mutable venn diagram with the voter in the middle and competing political philosophies influencing them to greater or lesser degrees depending on how they are being applied at the time. I believe you're correct in that the center, or core belief of most voters is defined by the american ideal, which may be more uniform than most believe. Politicians like Walker create a greater drift away from center to the point of removing the influence of conservative thought completely, which is too bad since conservatism, like any political philosophy has both good and bad to offer. His is the politics of purity where competing philosophies are not welcomed or allowed to interact on any level with his 'purified' political circle. I agree with you that his model of sanitized politics and his actions are antithetical to more commonly definitions of the american ideal.