Radical Center USA

By Al Stephenson

The Democrats just spent a billion dollars to get trounced by Donald Trump and a slew of Republican conservatives throughout the nation. It’s the biggest Republican victory in many years. Wouldn’t it make sense to spend a small portion of their campaign money on recruiting and running some actual moderate/centrist candidates instead of the usual liberals they’ve been running? They clearly need to make some changes.

The current claim to fame of the Democrats is that they are more highly educated than the dumbass hick Republicans and MAGA Trump supporters. A question exists however, whether the “Democratic leadership” can handle basic math or simple equations. All of the polling and survey data indicates that liberal/progressives represent about 25 percent (tops) of the overall electorate. That means by definition, the Democrats would need to move to the center to pick up additional voters. That would be 26 percentage points to get to a 51 percent simple majority of the type Republicans have currently.

It’s really not that tough. You add the liberals to the moderates to beat the conservatives, something like: L+M>C. Now, what is the plan to pick up moderate/centrist voters in the middle of the political spectrum? Amazing, but there isn’t any! Maybe people don’t know what a “moderate” actually is? That’s perfectly understandable, nothing to be ashamed of. Let’s take a look.

An actual moderate would do a 50-50 blend or admixture on issues, alternating between liberal and conservative views.( Sorry, but you can’t be liberal on all or 90% of the issues and call yourself a “moderate” and get away with it). Another technique, used by earlier politicians is “watering down” the liberal legislative proposal. For example, instead of the Green New Deal they would support The Turquoise New Deal with less stringent environmental standards and controls. On abortion, the moderate approach would be to slap some restrictions on such as “partial birth” and” “parental notification of minors.” This “watering down” concept actually could be applied to most issues.

Another time honored method to achieve “moderation” would be to blow off or distance oneself from the extreme fringe leftist radical elements in the party. This can be done through “benign neglect ” rather than getting confrontational as conservatives sometimes do. Rather than pandering to them, you politely show the extreme leftists to the door and tell them “maybe some other time.”

As far as running an ad to recruit actual moderates, this is only partially meant in jest. In reality, governmental agencies do this type of thing all the time. All of the popular job search engines can be used at a relatively low cost. How would such an ad be worded? Something like an ad for a “Regional Sales Representative” “would work fine. As an example:

Wanted! People to run for political office. Must be moderate on political views, not “liberal/progressive.” (We have enough of these.) Some college courses in History or Political Science helpful but not required. Will train the right person. Excellent salary and benefits available. Contact Democratic National Committee.

Now, just take the same ad and run it in all the conservative areas or Red/Purple states. Those not selected could be placed on a list for future campaign worker job openings.

If they don’t want to do this they better think of something else. Whether it’s the “farm club” in baseball or the Police Academy model, the Democrats need to recruit new people. Voters just don’t want “woke” or PC liberals in these conservative areas of the country. Maybe the thinking is that Trump and his pals will implode quickly so no changes need to be made? Anything’s possible, But the Reagan-Bush era lasted twelve years from 1980-1992 before dead ending in the “it’s the economy stupid recession ” of the early 90s. George H.W Bush lasted eight years until the Great Recession arrived. In any case, this is a great opportunity for Democrats to return to the “big tent” concept they used to be successful with many years ago.

The Kamala Harris campaign actually had the right idea in trying to “pivot to the middle” and place more emphasis on the concerns of average working people. The problem was one of credibility. People believed that on day one after inauguration the Democrats would just start in on the usual liberal or “woke” agenda items. This was reinforced by Republican ad makers and the conservative media who pummeled them continuously. All of the current prominent Democrats would get the same treatment as Harris if they decided to run. That’s why they need “new blood” or somebody without all the excess baggage. Why not start today?