Jonah Goldberg, in a Los Angeles Times op-ed piece, decries what he sees as the move of both political parties towards the political center — arguing that the days of bold conservatism are likely over…for now at least.
He sees us in an age of DINOS and RINOS:
I should back up. Dinos, of course, are “Democrats in Name Only.” Rinos are their GOP counterparts. Nobody actually ever admits to being a Republican in name only. Rather, these are epithets used to describe politicians of insufficient ideological purity or partisan backbone. Think David Gergen without the smoldering sexual intensity. Or, if you can’t, think moderates, squishes, apostates, New York Times-pleasing “mavericks,” centrists and all the others who want to “get beyond labels” or get a standing ovation from the Brookings Institution.
Galloping toward the center is nothing new in American politics. The parties have always regressed to the mean. The center of gravity is in the, uh, center. What’s changed is that the center has — finally — been moving an eensy bit to the right.
But not that much to the right, he contends. And it’s clear that to Goldberg “moderate” or “centrist” means people who are wishy-washy and barely take positions. That’s a consistent assumption made by staunch partisans of both parties that is not confirmed if you look at American political history. Anyone who wants to research it should buy and read this book which demolishes that argument definitively.
As a conservative who had great hopes that the U.S. was on the brink of a revolution, of sorts, he is disheartened by what he sees as the sad realities that nuance may be making a comeback:
The Democrats are becoming a minority party. The 1990s saw them hemorrhage power in the House, Senate, state legislatures, etc., even as Bill Clinton moved his party to the right on many of its core issues. Even this month’s Democratic election victories are at best preservations of the status quo. In Virginia, the winner of the governor’s race was a nominally pro-life Dino replacing another Dino. These centrist Democrats understand that listening to the base of their party would be electoral suicide. Not exactly champagne wishes and caviar dreams for the crowd at the Nation.
And we aren’t drinking out of slippers here on the right either. Bush is a lame duck, Social Security reform is dead, the dreams of the revolution come up only when we gather around the campfire to sigh about what might have been. The Rinos are in charge now. Drilling in ANWR was pulled from the House appropriations budget, tax-cut extensions in the Senate were crushed in deference to the fearsome clout of … Olympia Snowe. Even on judges, the power-players are the Gang of 14 centrists and Rinos like Arlen Specter. It was Specter, not Kennedy, who gave John G. Roberts Jr. the toughest questions during his hearings.
There are some on the left (as well as on the right) who would agree with Goldberg that the center and moderates are problems. But, if he is correct, then many independent voters and centrists will breathe a sigh of relief that we’re heading into an era in which polarization isn’t seen as having an intrinsic political value and consensus isn’t a dirty word.
BUT:
Goldberg really should take a deep breath.
It’s still too EARLY to declare the aspiring conservative revolution over (George W. Bush still has some Supreme Court nominations to make in his remaining three years). That would assume there’s no future White House revamp in the offing, that the Democrats will take advantage of political openings by presenting policies and political personalities that appeal to more than a narrow section of Americans or the most militant segment of the Democratic party — and that there are no unforeseen events that will intervene to give George Bush one last chance to regain popularity, show that he values national unity and translate that into clout for himself and his party.
Goldberg also forgets that part of the GOP’s present problem is this: the Republicans have now morphed into the kind of party Newt Gingrich fought against in Congress. What’s going on doesn’t seem to be as much of an ideological rejection as a weariness of and backlash against how the GOP has governed now that it basically “owns” almost the entire federal government.
Also: there is indeed a political center in American politics — but it doesn’t necessarily have to do with a specific party or ideology. When the line is crossed, it’s more of a feeling like “these guys (and gals like Jean Schmidt) are REALLY way out there…” Just look at Bush’s and the GOP’s poll ratings among independents and moderates who are fleeing faster than hip-hop fans at a Kathy Lee Gifford concert.
Goldberg compares this new era that he fears we’re entering as an era of 2-percent milk — meaning bland.
Perhaps it is bland.
But 2-percent milk can also be better for your health.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.