A Republican Leadership Council for Centrist Conservatives
To me David Brooks of the NYTimes is the most prominent writer in America on right of center Centrism. He comments
“>here about how the Republican Party has lost its way, and along with it, moderate conservatives. But the GOP can get them back by getting back to basics and proposing centrist policies which he lists in the article.
In passing he suggests that members of the GOP form a Republican Leadership Council along the same lines as the Democratic Leadership Council. The DLC gave a home to Moderate Democrats, and provided a spring board for Bill Clinton and more recently Rahm Emanuel who helped engineer the Congressional takeover by recuriting moderate and conservative Democratic candidates.
I am excited about the idea of a Republican Leadership Council. Primarily because it would likely focus on promoting moderate conservative policy and candidates. It would provide a counterpoint to the DLC and make building a Centrist Coalition in Congress easier.
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16 Responses to “A Republican Leadership Council for Centrist Conservatives”
Going “Democrat-Lite” is the Republican way of committing “suicide” instead of dying from the cancer that is the demographic avalache that they are being buried under.
Davis Brooks would be better proposing ways that the US can successfully function as a one party state without destroying America in the long run.
I agree with you, Paul, that having a GOP yin to the DLC yang could contribute to a bipartisan coalition.
I also wonder whether such a coalition might not end up as a party of its own, and leave the more ideologically-inflexible with the Dem and Rep labels.
Except for the first para, the piece is excellent. The claims of the “better” policies are too vague to be substantiated, and off-putting to this Kennedy/Goldwater/Nixon/McGovern voter.
Foolish and unnecessary partisan sniping slow an objective analysis. No one on either side of the aisle should engage in it when trying to appeal to the center.
Polimon,
Third parties are a common topic. But I am skeptical that such a party could agree on a platform, raise hundreds of millions of dollars and mobilize tens of thousands of volunteers.
However a Centrist movement that raised enough to swing close elections in favor of moderate Ds or Rs seems more accessible.
Conservatives who recoil at the idea of Republican Lite may have to reconcile what they believe with what is realistic.
By going towards the center you can preserve your influence on the outcomes. By going or staying too far to the right may reduce you to chronic frustration and impotence.
The Demos are likely to continue to perfect their positioning in the middle.
This says a lot about the total intellectual vacuum of “right of center Centrism.”
Paul,
If the Republicans wanted to maximize their influence, they would disband and all start voting in the Democratic Primary. At least then, they could be a true force for moderation.
Acting as Democratic Life means that the conservatives stay home, he moderates split the middle, and the Democrats win in a landslide due to their Democratic advantages. It also means giving up any turnout, monetary, or organization advantage to a party that has demographic destiny on its side.
Andrew,
Can you recommend any other writers on center right political thought in the US?
That is actually what I did. I was actively involved in promoting moderate Republicans in their local primaries.
No. My point is that the sector of political thought is basically devoid of any interesting (or coherent) policies or idea.
There are plenty of interesting (though often totally crazy) ideas on the “right”: libertarians, neocons, theocons, etc. None of these people are at all moderate.
People who call themselves moderate republicans are just weak libertarians who go to church and don’t smoke dope (and thus, are not interesting).
I find that moderate Ds and Rs have the most interesting political thought because it is about reconciling apparently conflicting points of view.
That may not have much attraction to folks who see the world as black and white. But as a business owner for 25 years I only got to deal with the grey stuff and appreciate the politicians who can do the same.
That is indeed part of the Conventional Wisdom about why a third party can’t / won’t rise or succeed. I remain optimistic nonetheless, in part because I do think that there could be an agreed platform.
Polimon,
Anothe hurdle for a third party; in addition to finding candidates, getting on ballotrs, fund raising, and organziation development; is that a third party has no natural constituantcy to count on.
As long as blacks, Jews, and Latinos will vote for Democrats no matter what, a third party will have to get most of its votes from Republicans. There just is not enough moderate white middle class individuals who vote Democrat to appeal to during an election.
Thus, the Democrats still get their standard core of 40% and the Republicans and the moderates get to split the other 60%. Not a very good scenario for trying to establish a new party.
Please clarify how enabling the far right wing of the Republican party for the past 12 years has been either (1) moderate, (2) thoughtful, (3) interesting, or (4) conciliatory.
You’re living in a complete fantasy world if you think that moderate Republicans have done any moderating, as opposed to Republicaning.
It is true that moderate R’s enabled the extreme stuff coming out of the Right wing. Lincoln Chafee commented that some things he reluctantly agreed to so that his state would get its share of pork.
But when they weren’t coerced I liked the stuff that came out of the members of the Republican Main Street Partnership and It’s my Party Too.
The game would be different if moderate R’s had more dominant numbers along the lines of the 44 Blue Dogs.
Polimom,
Please consider writing a post about what a Centrist platform might look like?