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Dems Winning With Centrist Voices
If you glance around at the post-election political landscape, the odds are you’re going to see a lot of moderate Dem voices in government.
Alan Stewart Carl takes a closer look.
10 Responses to “Dems Winning With Centrist Voices”
The more that Centrist candidates can turn to Centrist donors the less they will need to pander to extreme partisan donors. That is why I am so excited about the success of Lieberman (knock on wood), Dems for Joe, and the Organization that Bloomberg is building for this presidential run.
A Centrist version of Moveon.org and ActBlue can help swing the close races and create a safer harbor for Moderates from either party.
Joe has proven that all that matters to Joe is Joe.
In everything that is important, he has been flat out wrong. Joe represents everything that is wrong with the establishment Dems.
If you want to hook up your centerist wagon to Joe, go right ahead.
That will be a slow journy to oblivion.
I think as centerist watch Dems in action, they will come to realize that Dems were pretty darn centerist all along.
Of course there will be that cult of centerism that is always hanging around. The cult that tries to find a moral equivalent to anything the Thugs of the Republican party do.
Bush suspends Habeas Corpus, then for sure Harry Reid or somebody did something.
Atrios nails it
Not only am I part of a cult, it is an elite cult, way cool. I have yet to meet a moderate that spoke of being unquestionably right or said a consensus was not needed, but maybe I haven’t known as many moderates as he.
Its just common sense that when poll after poll shows dissatisfaction with both parties, it it due to the fact that the extremes of both sit in the leadership positions. Since the far left and far right usually cannot work together, and do not represent the majority, that is where this level of dissatisfaction is coming from. It is encouraging that rather than run clones of the liberal leadership, the Democrats have finally recognized that they need to run moderate and even conservative candidates, that can appeal to the districts they are running in.
As far as I’m concerned, bleeding heart liberalism failed because of its excesses in relying on government too much, heavily taxing the wealthy, and putting absolutely no limits on things like partial-birth abortion. Likewise, the far right is failing because it is too ideologically based, tries to legislate morality, and has strayed from realism in foreign policy. Its politicians believe they can legislate morality and tend to be intolerant of ethnic groups and gays. Most people just want a pragmatic government that tries to make whatever programs it promotes actually work.
So this is very good news. Maybe the next incarnation of the Republican party leadership will contain moderates as well.
Kim, is the polling backlash against the Republicans because of ideology, intolerance and legislating morality (things that I think many people are on board with even though I, and apparently you, personally disagree with them) or is it the failure in execution, acceptance of mediocrity, lack of accountability, and general feeling that things aren’t going well?
Sorry dude, I dont think you qualify for membership. You dont seem to have mastered the necesary ‘high and mighty’ tone yet.
Both. I think one of the reasons things aren’t going well for them is that they cling stubbornly ideological stands, which negates any kind of compromise with moderates. One example is in foreign policy where the world has been divided into good and evil powers. We only talk directly to those we have deemed as good-which limits results.
Also, legislating amendments on gay marriage or flag burning is seen by many in the middle as a waste of time. No one is searching for a solution for the national debt which is now up to 9 trillion or the deficit which is 250 billion. Only minute efforts have been made towards developing alternative fuel sources- so Americans were stuck with high gas prices. Also- a belief in trickle-down economics has only benefited some -the others have been abandoned.
Any way the public sees just what you said and its infuriating. I am a firm believer in divided government leading to moderation in policy, because it forces the two parties to work with each other. For the past 6 years the Republicans haven’t needed to get Democratic support for a lot of their agenda. It would be nice if that is no longer true after next Tuesday.
Kim, a couple of interesting polling stats courtesy of The Gallup Organization.
A month ago, 30% of Americans were satisfied with the ‘state of the country’. In Feb 1999, 71% were satisfied. Individual polls seem to indicate that people are disatisfied for all sorts of reasons, but general disatisfaction is the bottom line.
Top 10 Priorities (10/21/06) that Americans want their elected representatives to focus on:
1. Iraq (30% get out now, 30% stay the course)
2. Terrorism/National Security (most are hawkish)
3. Economy (people think its getting worse)
4. Energy (pump price shock)
5. Illegal Immigration (pro controlled immigration)
6. Healthcare costs (pro govt subsidy but not control)
7. Education (local control, quality and funding)
8. Social Security (fear of insolvency)
9. Fixing the Govt itself (doctor, heal thyself)
10. Federal Deficit (marginal issue)
Read the finer points here http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=24391. The specific opinions and nuances expressed are pretty interesting. Also, notice the lack of ‘morality issues’ in this list.
Polls are by no means the be-all end-all, but they do give some provide some insight when done correctly.
Idiosyncrat- I am not at all surprised by these poll results. It shows that Americans want pragmatic problem solvers, not legislated morality. They are smart enough to realize that the rosy hype about the economy doesn’t match their own situation, and may view the precipitous drop in gas prices as temporary and with some suspicion. (I read recently that oil companies contribute 83% of the time to Republican candidates. Of course, that figure could change if the power structure changes.
I believe the social issues are a distraction that panders to the religious right, and keeps many from paying more attention to the issues you listed. That has been the strategy of Republicans- to galvanize their base. It appears to be less and less effective. It worked in 2002 and 2004, but I don’t think it will work this time, as even the religious right has to be concerned about the confluence of scandals.