Meet Me in the Middle

E. J. Dionne, Jr., one of my favorite liberal columnists, describes the plight of his lefty Democrats as being unable to attract enough moderate votes to gain control of either the White House or either House on the Hill. On first blush, as a committed moderate this argument makes a lot of sense since I’m very upset by the actions of conservative Republicans in all branches of government.

Dionne cites an electorate with 45% of the voters describing themselves as moderates, 21% liberals, and 34 % conservatives, and he lays out a path a path for liberals to capture the votes of us centrists. To those of us in the middle disillusioned with the performance of President Bush who promised to be a uniter but has done so much to offend both liberals and moderates Dionne’s recipe looks attractive, but I’m afraid it will not pass the taste test.

Both liberals and conservatives treat us as a passive lot who must be won over to the side of truth – theirs, naturally. But that’s what got us into this sorry state. In the sixties we went along with Lyndon Johnson’s war and guns and butter economy, and beginning with Reagan we’ve bought into a national muscularity in foreign affairs that culminated with the shock and awe beginning of our pratfall in Iraq and the sorry attempt to destroy Social Security.

Do you want to know who was really responsible for Vietnam and Iraq? It wasn’t the aggressive Democrats of the sixties for the former nor was it the neocons of the new millennium in Iraq; it was us moderates who gently sidled up to Lyndon and Dubya. We are responsible because we just went along, as usual.

The moderates must lead the country out of the wilderness. Impossible you say. If that’s the case we’re doomed to lurch from left to right, forever tossed on the waves of bunk that are bashing the ship of state from left to right and back again. America was a land of moderation for much of its history, but the sensible center was not up to the political, economic and political turmoil of the last century. A president of the left center had to rise and save the nation in the thirties and one from the right moved center stage to move us back on course and govern through the Cold War.

These two aberrations, left and right, addicted us to government from the edges that led us too far, first one way then the other. The moderates have seen no other way but to pick one side or the other to move us back. My view is that we’re wrong in choosing the way we have; we’ve followed and not led. We must break the cycle of choosing between the left and the right and make them move to us. You don’t see the difference? Bear with me

The liberal Democrats are debating whether to remain true to their core beliefs or to move slightly to the center to attract more of us. Obviously, the conservatives are doing the opposite but secure in the knowledge that they have to entice fewer of us to their 34% base to maintain control of the levers of power.

The problem is that we sheep are simply waiting to be divided and led to slaughter. As I’ve written before in my essay on the gang of fourteen million, we must lead from the center and demand that the extremes bow to us rather than the other way around. Naturally, this isn’t going to be done by creating a third party or by recruiting our own candidates. It has to be done by individual voters rejecting the extremes and saying so loudly and clearly to those running the parties.

Right now we should be angry with the Republicans. Even if we’re members of that august group – which I was until the build up to the Iraq War – we must punish them for their adventurism in both foreign and domestic affairs. At the same time, we should make it abundantly clear that we are not buying into the liberal claptrap and that we will punish the Democrats for moves away from center, too.

Above all, we must be prepared to punish our own cherished congressional representatives of either party who bring home the bacon but who are ideologues in all things non-constituent oriented. Just because they fight for the local military base or for the multi-billion dollar bridge project, if we see that that their larger presence is taking us down the wrong road as a nation, we must vote against them. If they perceive that before the next election and move toward the center, we can forgive and vote for them – ONE LAST TIME.

Above all, if we’re lucky enough to be represented by a moderates such as members of `The Gang of Fourteen’ in the Senate or Blue Dog Democrats in the House, we must do our best to praise and publicize them to our neighbors. They’re rare but out there and they must be cherished and recognized.

Would this strategy work? Compared to what we’re used to it couldn’t hurt to try.

With the Red Sox and Yankees gearing up for a showdown in Fenway, I’m shifting my brain into gear for something really important for the next several days. Blogs are out until the middle of next week.

So Blog on without me!

Wild Bill