Missing The Point
Functional democracy only exists in the political center
It’s obvious that while the history of the U.S. is a history of political rancor and insult, we have reached a new level of divisiveness that defies logic and reason. I say this as a pragmatist, but any reasonable person should realize that little is being accomplished in terms of widely supported solutions to commonly experienced problems, a reality that has literally no upside for anyone. And it’s easy enough to recognize that while it may seem there’s enough blame to go around, one side of the divide has, in fact, created what we now have — a result of at least three decades of moving away from the political center.
I’ve noted many times that a functional democracy only exists in the political center. While there are a multitude of disagreements from center-left to center-right, there is — more often than not — still the likelihood of compromise and consensus. When one side is farther away from the moderate center and more dedicated to ideological purity, there is far less likelihood that country — not party — will be first, resulting in dysfunctional governance via polarization.
This polarization has been carefully and meticulously planned, with a consistent effort over many years to intentionally misrepresent the political views of anyone “left” of a conservative ideology that has been moved ever further to the right. So now having conversations about differing points of view becomes an exercise in which one side accuses even moderates in its own party of being “liberal.” It’s difficult — if not impossible — to get along with, or converse with, those who don’t seem to exist in a realistic frame of mind and don’t consider compromise a necessity. Mind you, the party in question and its base are actually further to the right than many typical Republicans and conservative independents.
It’s one thing to have confirmation bias — the predisposition to accept only what one already believes and wants to be true, and quite another to use that bias to deny the consequences of opinions well outside of mainstream (i.e., moderate, centrist) viewpoints. In that sense, it makes the Republican party the problem in terms of political gridlock, fact-free propaganda and party over country. In other words, they are missing the point of democracy/governance by undermining the processes essential to its long-term functionality and thus legitimacy.
Those who aren’t old enough to remember when both parties could disagree on many things, yet still government together, may not realize that the solution is for one party to move back toward a more moderate center-right position. The Democratic party, although accused of being “liberal,” is actually the country’s nominal centrist party. Unfortunately, it has a more leftist core that is much too liberal for moderate conservatives, which all too often undermines the party’s ability to win elections in many locations.
Leadership of a political party is meant to guide the party’s policies and procedures. Not everyone will agree with this, but the so-called elite bring stability and direction…or should. The Republican leadership has largely abdicated its responsibilities, allowing the far-right base to move the party away from center-right, whereas the Democratic party leadership has exerted necessary management but still faces a far left core that mistakenly believes mainstream voters would join them if only party leadership would get out of the way.
Those who think the Democrats could make a better effort to find common ground with Republicans are missing another important point. Both parties have to want to find commonality. If one party doesn’t consider this important and sees no reason to compromise, then commonality becomes invisible. Voters have the power to move the Republican party toward moderation by simply not voting for far-right candidates while voting for moderate ones. Instead they simply don’t vote, allowing less moderate candidates to win…elected by committed voters.
It has been noted frequently since the 2016 election how different — culturally and politically — rural and metropolitan voters generally are. Ironically, this divide makes paying attention to what’s not working in the country’s democracy and governance even more important. Anyone who thinks the solution can be found nearer the edges of the political spectrum is only contributing to the problem…certainly not the solution.
The solution is losing elections. By not rewarding outside-the-center politics, party leadership will eventually recognize that a larger, more moderate base could be more successful. Sort of pragmatic, which has not been evident in the Republican party for a very long time. They have seen in Europe how voters have pushed back against far-right populists and elected moderate leaders. We can do the same.
