What moderate politics has gotten us thus far

This written piece is part political commentary and part rebuttal to a blog entry posted at The Moderate Voice by Joe Gandelman. Now to be fair; Joe is a friend of mine. Joe has linked to my blog a few times, when I have sent him e-mail pitifully begging for linkage in the past.

However, I feel that I must respond to this Blog entry; because quite frankly, Joe fails to know the difference between a Conservative and a Republican. Joe also fails to realize what moderate politics has gotten us here in the past twenty years.

First off, allow me to quote to you what Joe has written:

“Whether its called a “purge,” “purification,” or making sure that candidates are “real” conservatives and “real” Republicans, the bottom line is that it now appears that moderates in the Republican party — already a nearly vanished species — have a future about as bright as VHS video tapes.

So now the question is going to become: which party can piece together a winning coalition? And what will the elements of that coalition be in this highly fluid, changing ideological environment dominated by the left and right?

The Republicans have been peeling off a good chunk of independent voters, although some argue the growth of independent voters under George Bush was partially due to disgruntled Republicans (moderates and conservatives) straying from the GOP. But that’s almost irrelevant to the central political question which is: which party can put together a winning coalition?

Moderates and centrists aren’t beloved by powerful portions of either political party. So it’s now seemingly a race to see which party offends them most, and which party offends them the least because — for now at least — it’s unlikely that liberals alone or conservatives alone will win elections or congressional majorities. And branding moderates and centrists as closet liberals, closet Republicans, radicals, reactionaries or wishy washy doesn’t exactly win their heart.”

To be totally fair to Joe, he does make the very valid point that neither of the political parties in America have much use for the moderates within their ranks. There is a reason for this and I will explain that. There are many examples of what moderate politics has gotten us in the past; on both sides of the political fence. These are not just examples of Democrats, but also of Republicans as well.

Here are my examples of moderate politics and how it has hurt or at least impeded America’s standing:

• It was the moderate politics of President Bill Clinton in or around 1994; who signed the North American Free Trade Agreement and TAFA; which basically put the America Auto Workers and many of types of America workers —- squarely behind the 8-ball. What this very flawed agreement caused, was for Japanese and other foreign automakers to able to import their products into this Country for cheaper than the America automakers were even able to produce their products. Thus weakening the American Automakers market share in the United States. Some “Rockefeller Conservative” types would say that this simply hurt the Unions. However, if one looks at the broader scope of this issue, one would see that not only were the unions hurt by this action; but the automakers themselves were hurt also. This was also seen by the greatest of the Clinton supporters — The Unions, as a “selling up the river” of the Democratic Party’s largest base. This might explain why the Clinton machine was defeated in 2008 as well.
• It was the moderate politics of President George W. Bush which gave the Democrats the very platform that they have now to introduce all of this Governmental regulation of the banking system. If George W. Bush had stuck to his Conservative principles and allowed the banks which had made all of those foolish risky investments on the housing market to actually collapse. Perhaps we would not have all of this overreaching Governmental encroachment into our capitalistic system. Which, for what it is worth, is the true definition of fascism. Further more, because of these actions by the now former President, we will possibly see a massive inflation of our Nation’s money supply and will drive costs for various products extremely high and will cause shortages.
• It was, and still is, the moderate politics of the United States Senator Olympia Snowe that may in fact result in the destroying of 15% of our Nation’s economy. I am of course referring to this healthcare bill, which is currently winding its way through Congress. Which will ultimately result in the rising of our national deficit. Not to mention the fact, that the nationalizing of the Healthcare system will ultimately end up destroying the private market of Healthcare in this Country; thereby resulting in the lessening of the quality of care and ultimately will lead to rationing and possibly euthanasia of our elderly.

What troubles me troubles me the most about this article is the indirect insinuation by Joe that those of us, who identify ourselves as Conservatives are engaging in some sort extremist behavior; because we happen to think that if one calls themselves a “Conservative” or a “Republican”, and that person desires to run for office; that one should actually adhere to those said principles and not sell out ones principles to win a popularity contest, or to win in the endorsement of some two-bit socialist organization.

My question to Joe and also to the White House; is this —– is that not this very tactics that were taken by the late Senator Joseph McCarthy; who engaged in a sort of “Thought Police” towards those who were of the mindset that Communism or as it now called, socialism; was the great alternative to American capitalism? I ask this in all seriousness, since when did disagreeing with political and ideological mindset become extremism?

The truth is my friends, is that the White House is engaging in the tactics of Saul Alinsky. That is to diminish and discredit those who are in opposition to the policies and politics of the socialists. What disturbs me is the fact that there are some Conservatives, who are engaging in the same tactics as the left —- in the name of Liberty. I am quite sorry but, utilizing “Rules for Conservative radicals” makes us no better than the liberal left. We simply have to arm ourselves with the honest truth; believe me, it will shine forth. There is no need to mimic the left. We are better than that; we should act like it.

I wrote this simply as a reminder that Conservatism is not abnormal, no matter what the liberal left or even the moderate left says.

Update: Smitty @ The Other McCain links in and writes:

Where I was waiting for Pat at PBL’s analysis to go is a consideration of the NetRoots and Joe Lieberman in 2006.

One could say that Joe Lieberman was an opportunist or one could say that he was Democrat who was not drinking the kool-aid. 😀