The real problem with moderates
November 28, 2011 5 Comments
As I wrote recently, this silly “moderate” and/or “radical centrist” third party beloved by ignorant pundits is not going anywhere. That said, it’s still nice to see EJ Dionne lay out so clearly why it is such a horrible idea:
Some of my middle-of-the-road columnist friends keep ascribing our difficulties tostructuralproblems in our politics. A few call for a centrist third party. But the problem we face isn’t about structures or the party system. It’s about ideology — specifically a right-wing ideology that has temporarily taken over the Republican Party and needs to be defeated before we can have a reasonable debate between moderate conservatives and moderate progressives about our country’s future. [emphasis mine]
A centrist third party would divide the opposition to the right wing and ease its triumph. That’s the last thing authentic moderates should want.
Yep, a lot of these knee-jerk centrists keep insisting– despite voluminousness evidence to the contrary– that the “right” or “moderate” approach must simply be half-way between the two parties. Yet, this fails to account for the fact that the Republicans have moved the goal posts so far that they are out in the parking lot. So long as the Republican party is in thrall to people who see lower taxes for rich people as the sine qua non of politics and are willing to destroy the full faith and credit of the US and cause all sorts of unnecessary hardship to ordinary Americans in pursuit of that goal, there really cannot be any compromise. The sad truth is that so many journalists and even ordinary people are so constitutionally inclined to take a “split the difference” approach that they fail to appreciate how truly radical the current Republican party is. To simply call for a moderate third way is to deny that essential reality of contemporary American politics.
About Steve Greene
I agree in the main, but, that right wing goal post has been parked in that parking lot since 1964. And despite Yankee push back, Cowboys and Cavilers just keep getting enough purchase on the electorate to widen that parking lot and further distance the goal post.
I don’t see anything on the horizon that suggest this is about to change. A sea change election last only as long as the tide stays in, reenforcing, to moderates of both camps, that politics is all wet. So it’s better to opt out of partying and claim independence, than to be pissed on by party politics time and again.
This shirking of party participation limits views, counter-voices, and institutional memory. When all “must” sing from the same limited hymnal, few care if the many consider it out of tune. And many politically tone deaf independents hum along on a whim, not aware of what the lyrics really mean.
So just how does the current GOP correct? When they lose, they claim their candidate was impure politically, or just inept, or sandbagged by the liberal media, or the polls were rolled by an evil and godless and commie opposition. No self reflection or policy examination allowed. They just circle the wagons a bit tighter, and play the victim with more volume. And with victimhood comes fresh recruits.
Only something external can put an end to this.
The only radicals are the left who want to take more from people who earn more.
Where do get off thinking that you can just take more from people who earn more?
John Wilder
What your head is too deep in the sand to realize is just because the right is farther off the deep end than the left is, the left is still far too off the deep end in the other direction for more and more of us in the center to be able to hold our nose and support any more.
More and more of us are done voting for lesser evils. Last time we put democrats in power with our swing vote support, you ran roughshod over what we wanted and we took you out of power. The left only has themselves to blame for all of this. We gave them a chance to run the country and listen to the center, and they showed us how little they really give a damn about us.
A pox on both parties. I hope neither gets a majority in Washington ever again. The least worst option is split government, until we get our own party and start having people in Washington that actually give a rats ass about what twe want, instead of just the special interests on the left and right that control both major parties.
Doug is right. Only something external can make things better. Americans Elect might be a start, if they end up getting a couple good candidates.
Solomon Kleinsmith
Rise of the Center
The left have moved so far left, that anyone of traditional sensibilities and free market economics veiws is seen as “.extreme right wing”. When you propose “cuts” to the decrease in the rate of increase in government spending (baseline budgeting), you are said to be in favor of draconian austerity, and you want old people, children, and disabled people to fend for themselves and go away and die. How do you moderate that? Where’s the middle ground? Today’s political stage has shifted way beyond the parking lot, and is way out in the middle of a leftist utopian ocean.
Empirically, you are 180 degrees wrong. Conservatives have shifted dramatically right; liberals moderately left.