The Washington Times featured an interesting post election analysis that showed that Republican Senators gave far less money to struggling candidates than did Democrats. I believe that this is relatively true in the House races as well. It was not that they soberly calculated that they were going to lose in a landslide and decided not to throw good money after bad. They just threw their candidates, who were within fractions of a percentage point of winning, under the bus. Why? I wonder if this...

Steve Benen has a intriguing post over at The Washington Monthly about the choice to either reduce the national debt or to spend more for popular services like Health Care. John Edwards spoke recently in support of the latter. I would prefer to adjust the context of the discussion by changing the choice from spending more Federal money into investing and managing federal resources more efficiently. Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year are spent on Tax law compliance. Regulations that protect certain...

Captain Ed over at Captain’s Quarters is skeptical of the wisdom of Israel supplying arms to Fatah. Instead of supplying anyone of any money or materiel, the world shouldjust cut off the Palestinians altogether until they develop leadershipinterested in peace. This seems to be what is happening. Abbas is interested in peace but he can’t outpace his public without losing credibility and probably his life. He has to find the smallest steps that do not irretrievably alienate his constituents....

I agree with Senator Lieberman’s commentary today in the Washington Post Why We Need More Troops in Iraq By Joseph Lieberman I saw firsthand evidence in Iraq of the development of a multiethnic, moderate coalition against the extremists of al-Qaeda and against the Mahdi Army, which is sponsored and armed by Iran and has inflamed the sectarian violence. We cannot abandon these brave Iraqi patriots who have stood up and fought the extremists and terrorists. And PM Tony Blair’s commentary...

AP Poll: Bush Both a Villain and a Hero Intriguing results of this poll to name the villains and heroes of the year – Bush topped both lists, in a sign of these polarized times. …Bush won the villain sweepstakes by a landslide, with one in four respondents putting him at the top of that bad-guy list. When people were asked to name the candidate for villain that first came to mind, Bush far outdistanced even Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader in hiding; and former Iraqi leader Saddam...

For lovers of lists… stuff like: 2. The part of the brain that regulates reasoning, impulse control and judgment is still under construction during puberty and doesn’t shift into autopilot until about age 25. h/t National Review The only thing in the world that’s new is the history you don’t know. - Harry Truman

- A National Centrist PAC to help elect pragmatic candidates, from either party, in close elections. - Redistricting reform to increase competition in elections. - More open primaries so that moderates are on a more-level playing field with partisans. - Campaign finance and lobbying reform to reduce the influence of money on policy, and the time legislators spend fund raising. - A critical mass of Congressional moderates to forge non-partisan pragmatic solutions to chronic issues. - Tax simplification...

The report on reforming our school system just released by the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce urges that mandatory schooling begin at age 3 and end after 10th-grade. After that, going on to colleges and universities would be one of several choices available. Another choice, equally typical and just as well-funded, would be vocational training. Obviously, however, the solution is not to strand students with an eighth-grade education as it currently stands in America. Rather,...

Not-so-Big Labor eyes the Democratic Congress. Most the words below are the authors: This Wall Street Journal Commentary is about the Union agenda to make it easier to recruit members. Currently there is a secret ballot to join a Union, which apparently most Unions lose. The Unions want a law that recognizes them as the bargaining unit for a workplace if a majority of the workers merely sign a card indicating their support. Under current law, companies are required to recognize a union only after...

Dr Barnett comments on the damage created by our ag subsidies. Our ag subsidies are destroying agriculture in Africa, scattering farm families. The myth that ag subsidies protect the “family farm” here in America is absurd beyond words. Those farms, to the extent they still exist, receive only a tiny fraction of such subsidies, the vast bulk of which go to huge farms and ag corps. The family farms we destroy systematically are found overwhelmingly in the Gap. As the president of Ghana’s...

A Win-Win U.S. Strategy for Dealing with Iran Iran is trying to get nuclear weapons as fast as they can while Russia and China have their back for various reasons. Military action by us would be difficult and probably alienate our allies both in and outside of Iran. So here is an alternate strategy from some folks at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. We need a new approach. It is time for the United States to get smart in dealing with Iran and frame its own win-win proposition, which we propose...

Rhymes with Right This links to a post on a Conservative Blog regarding a Washington Post article about apparent self dealing among Rep. Murtha, Military Donors, and Non Profit Organizations. If the Dems want to take the high ground on ethics then they need to be prepared for a bumpy ride. Perhaps a few high profile catches will persuade the voters that the Dems are serious and trustworthy. I believe that any and all elected officials are tempted by power and treasure.

Report: Iran’s Oil Exports May Disappear Iran is suffering a staggering decline in revenue from its oil exports, and if the trend continues income could virtually disappear by 2015, according to an analysis published Monday in a journal of the National Academy of Sciences. …If the United States can ”hold its breath” for a few years it may find Iran a much more conciliatory country, he said. And that, Stern said, is good reason to delay any instinct to take on Iran militarily. ”What...

They all seem to be various degrees of centrist/moderate. Some more right like McCain. Some more left like Edwards. But all seem to be inclusive, pragmatic, and have a history of bi-partisan cooperation. At this time I would be optimistic with any of them as President or Vice President. My focus is more on the Congress. This is where I think there is the most opportunity for progress towards a more-productive group of legislators. That is why I am paying attention to the new Chairman of the four...

GOP turns anger on campaign committee This article is an interesting debriefing of the midterm elections and illustrates how Politics is more art than science.

Shiites Remake Baghdad in Their Image This is sad. Too many Sunnis and Shiites can’t get along. So armed gangs kill each other to purify neighborhoods. How could this dynamic not have been clear to our experts on the ground over there? Why could it not have been possible to use the vast oil wealth of Iraq to pay each family to move to an ethnically pure district and avoid all of the bloodshed? Why is killing people who simply do not believe as you do more attractive than simply negotiating...

This comes from EU Referendum, a colleague to The Moderate Voice, as Weblog Award Winner for best UK Blog, who in turns gets it from a blogger in Canada. Hat tip Dr. Barnett. “>Worse than bread riots From Last weekend. Bread riots spell disaster for all. Revolutions start with bread riots and revolutions lead to civil wars and civil wars lead to oppression in both camps and so on. So what can be worse than bread riots? Strikes by bakers, of course. That is what happened in Teheran this...

Eyeing ’08, Democrats Nurse Freshmen at Risk This is an interesting juxtaposition with my previous post about Republican Congressional Staff apparently being stiffed by their bosses. The Democratic leaders have a special program to help retain folks who won by slim margins. They are given important and high profile committee assignments, sponsorship of important bills, and other special attention. They apparently plan to be back in force in 2008. The Republicans are not so sure, or why...

Reported in the Wall Street Journal Washington Wire Republican House staff members who are losing their jobs in the aftermath of November’s loss of control are hoping Democrats will re-extend the hand of largesse to them next month. As the old Congress wound down in a scramble of post-election activity, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered to pay two months’ severance to staff members working on some committees and in House leadership offices. But her offer was scuttled —...

Powerline Blog comments on today’s setback for the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Law. A three-judge federal court panel took another bite out of McCain-Feingold today, ruling unconstitutional, as applied to the case before it, that provision of the statute that prohibits corporations and others from engaging in “electioneering communications,” This is another of my “Centrist is as Centrist does” exercises: How do we reconcile freedom of speech with that which allows...

This post over at the Carpetbagger stirred up my frustration with the Popular media. As if there are not enough important and controversial issues to explore CNN is already criticizing the Democrats with a graphic that says “Do Nothing Dems?”

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo relays reports that Lieberman is floating between bipartisan groups Apparently Sen. Joe Lieberman has relinquished his position as co-chairman of the Senate Centrist Coalition, halting talks with co-chairwoman Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) over the future of the organization in favor of creating his own bipartisan group with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). This new group may be more social than legislative. I have no idea what this means, but I am shaking with...

The Moderate Voice is a vehicle for civil discussion of controversial issues. It is about exploring the Grey areas. So in that spirit I propose a centrist exercise. I offer a controversial topic and invite comments on how to reconcile the opposing points of view. This involves clarifying definitions, making distinctions between means versus ends, dealing with ambiguity, recognizing practical realities, making compromises, thinking nonpartisan and bi-partisan, considering cost and short and long...

Bruce Bartlett suggests that Libertarians would likely be more effective as an interest group than as a separate party. I think that the same reasoning is true for Centrists and Moderates. In place of the party, there should arise a new libertarian interest group organized like the National Rifle Association or the various pro- and anti-abortion groups. This new group, whatever it is called, would hire lobbyists, run advertisements and make political contributions to candidates supporting libertarian...

“>From Reuters “U.S. growers produce nearly $35 billion worth of marijuana annually, making the illegal drug the country’s largest cash crop, bigger than corn and wheat combined, an advocate of medical marijuana use said in a study released on Monday. …”Like all profitable agricultural crops marijuana adds resources and value to the economy,” he added. “The focus of public policy should be how to effectively control this market through regulation and...