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.

I find that moderate Ds and Rs have the most interesting political thought because it is about reconciling apparently conflicting points of view.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Can you recommend any other writers on center right political thought in the US?

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).

“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.”

That is actually what I did. I was actively involved in promoting moderate Republicans in their local primaries.

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.

To me David Brooks of the NYTimes is the most prominent writer in America on right of center Centrism.

This says a lot about the total intellectual vacuum of “right of center Centrism.”

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.

However a Centrist movement that raised enough to swing close elections in favor of moderate Ds or Rs seems more accessible.

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.

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.

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.