If you read something in the media about moderate Republicans, it's usually about how we are a dying breed, dwindling by the moment. Looking at how the recent election has turned out, it might appear that way. What's interesting though is that when you look to 2008, you don't see many people out there that are darlings of the hard right. The prospective GOP candidates includes, John McCain, Chuch Hagel, Rudy Guliani, and if they can get a constitutional amendment passed in the next four years, Arnold Scharzenegger. All of these are considered moderates or at least Goldwater conservatives. None of them would appeal to the James Dobsons and Jerry Fawells of the world.
So, what does this all mean? Is there no standard bearer for the hard right as the President has been? If so, why?
A story I found on the Independent Nation website has an interesting take on how there seems to be a quiet resurgence among the moderates in the GOP. What I like about this story is that it reminds us that the struggles between the hard and soft right are nothing new. In fact , they go back nearly a century.
"This is, of course, also the old Republican division, dating back at least to 1912. That’s when ex-President Theodore Roosevelt angrily led his delegation off the convention floor of the Chicago Coliseum and into the Progressive Party. His third-party candidacy ruined the chances of his onetime protégé, William Howard Taft, for re-election. In the 1930’s, New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia crossed party aisles to join Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration. A generation later, Governor Nelson Rockefeller got a heartbeat away from the Presidency, but no closer, with a record of extravagant spending and vocal support for the civil-rights movement. Working with him were a trio of fellow party members destined to be labeled (whether they liked it or not) as Rockefeller Republicans: John Lindsay, Jacob Javits and former State Senator Roy Goodman. Now, however, the days of Rockefeller Republicanism seem like so much ancient history. The long-time breeding ground of moderate Republicanism, the Upper East Side, now has no Republican elected officials."
I have no idea if there really is a comeback in the making right now. But this story reminds us that what we are dealing with now is not new. The far right has taken power before and we have come back. I think we can again.
Posted by Dennis at December 6, 2004 12:11 AMI was just reading comments about moderates and have been thinking about this since March 2005. After the Schaivo case in Flordia divided Americans and then the Tom Delay and Bill Frist thing have further split the Republican party. As a moderate I have gravitated toward Howard Dean and John McCain in the past week and have found common ground on both sides. Both are vocal moderates that can most readily connect with Americans.
Posted by: andrew augustynovich at April 27, 2005 06:53 PMHealth care savings accounts don't make sense as the president has described his vision for them. The basic problem is that they don't actually create significant incentives to save money. The majority of health care costs in the working population is in so-called value based services--interventions without a strong evidence base for efficiacy which vary in popularity greatly among regions of the country mostly based on availability of the service, eg. surgery for low back pain. For these interventions, decreasing costs by consumer shared decision support systems is a proven strategy, and industry (and medicare) are in the process of adopting these practices. Most of these interventions are procedures exceeding the likely accrued amount in a savings account, so the government would kick in anyway and there's no incentive for patients not to get the service.
But the category of care with the highest cost is end-of-life care (last 6 mo of life) in the elderly. These patients have already exhausted their savings accounts. Here is an opportunity for a public health initiative for earlier referral to hospice and more widespread advanced directives.
Either way, the administration seems more intent on extending the imprimatur of the 'ownership society' into every policy rather than looking at what is already known to help cut costs and the specifics of the issues.
PS. Dennis, I had trouble posting on the healthcare article so I did so here.
Posted by: Jeff at December 11, 2004 06:30 AMI'll repeat an analogy I love using.
If a person wandering in the woods encounters a bear, all the survival books say the person should wave his hands, jump around, shout loudly, and basically intimidate the bear by making the bear think the person is bigger and more fierce than the bear. The desired result is for the bear to run away.
Moderates and independents tend to be the bear. The radicals, ultra-conservatives, etc. tend to be the person waving and shouting. And being the bear, we tend to believe that we are, indeed, smaller and less ferocious than the radicals.
But guess what. We're the bear! And if the bear realizes that this puny little human really is puny, what happens to that person?
Posted by: Mark Kittel at December 9, 2004 03:09 PMComebacks happen all the time, why not now? I think you're right on the money that we need more moderates in local and state positions to cultivate political talent and take back control of the direction of the party from the base over time.
Another way to do that is to actively engage conservatives on the Internet--stepping outside of our comfort zones into blogs that may be filled with people who disagree with us significantly. Two goals: to remind conservatives that moderates are critical for the Republican margin of victory in elections and Congress, and to constantly challenge ideological or otherwise dubious statements so they don't resonate in an echo chamber.
It will take a lot of us doing this to make it effective. If interested, you can see my attempt at this type of dialogue at http://modo.redstate.org/story/2004/12/7/174840/424 and http://modo.redstate.org/story/2004/12/5/213332/239 Keep up the good work, Dennis
Posted by: Jeff at December 8, 2004 06:40 PMComebacks happen all the time, why not now? I think you're right on the money that we need more moderates in local and state positions to cultivate political talent and take back control of the direction of the party from the base over time. Another way to do that is to actively engage conservatives on the Internet--stepping outside of our comfort zones into blogs that may be filled with people who disagree with us significantly. Two goals: to remind conservatives that moderates are critical for the Republican margin of victory in elections and Congress, and to constantly challenge ideological or otherwise dubious statements so they don't resonate in an echo chamber. It will take a lot of us doing this to make it effective. If interested, you can see my attempt at this type of dialogue at http://modo.redstate.org/story/2004/12/7/174840/424 and http://modo.redstate.org/story/2004/12/5/213332/239 Keep up the good work, Dennis
Posted by: Jeff at December 8, 2004 06:37 PMWhile moderate Republicans may be an endangered species in much of the country, they're doing fine in these parts. There are moderate Republican governors in New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and I think New Hampshire. Of course a Republican needs to be moderate to win in most of those states.
Posted by: Brian at December 8, 2004 11:52 AM