Evidently, independent voters are fixin’ to lodge a protest against the current administration (ABC News):
It’s two weeks away, and the 2006 midterm elections look like a referendum on Iraq, a war in which President Bush and his party have lost not just the political center but significant chunks of their base.
An improving economy notwithstanding, opposition to the war remains the prime issue driving congressional voter preference. And the war’s critics include not just eight in 10 Democrats but 64 percent of independents, 40 percent of conservatives, 35 percent of evangelical white Protestants and a quarter of Republicans.
But Polimom’s not happy — though it’s not what you may think, because I absolutely intend to register my very strong displeasure in the coming election.
My problem is that I’ve spent my vote this way nearly my entire life. It’s always a vote against rather than for, and I’m getting tired of it. Hopeful words from some to the contrary, independents are not necessarily moderates, and this doesn’t look like a revolution of the mighty middle to me (WaPo):
Independent voters may strongly favor Democrats, but their vote appears motivated more by dissatisfaction with Republicans than by enthusiasm for the opposition party. About half of those independents who said they plan to vote Democratic in their district said they are doing so primarily to vote against the Republican candidate rather than to affirmatively support the Democratic candidate. Just 22 percent of independents voting for Democrats are doing so “very enthusiastically.”
I understand their lack of enthusiasm. My hackles go up every time some version of “redistribution of wealth” hits the airwaves, and while I truly don’t think Nancy Pelosi eats babies, I worry about eating up precious time that should be spent fixing our disastrous foreign policy.
Where the heck is the Moderate Party we so desperately need?
The continued lack of a viable alternative in American politics is truly baffling me, folks. I talk to people all the time about this, and they tell me (overwhelmingly) that they want a smaller federal government and more local control; at the same time, they see the need for at least some social programs and assistance for the poor. They tell me that they know one cannot “catch” homosexuality, and whether they themselves are pro- or anti- choice, they do not think the government should be part of the decision-making process for an individual — at any level.
In a nutshell, most of the people I talk to are somewhat to the right fiscally while somewhat to the left socially, and they all agree that less is more in government.
Now, I realize that there are people in both parties who represent some (or all) of the views above, but they’re almost always described as moderates (or sometimes disparagingly as DINOs or RINOs) — and they’re at odds with “the base”. Not only that, but when folks like me do manage to find a candidate who actually represents our views, they’re part of a larger party with a much different agenda, liable to take off running toward some bizarre goal we didn’t want.
Nowhere is there a party that stands for the moderate positions.
Unfortunately, I don’t get the feeling that we’re going to have such a party any time soon, leaving me not only stuck casting a vote “against” — again — but starting to think that this see-saw we’re on is never going to improve.
Because if there was ever a time for that Moderate Party, it was now.
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Update: E. J. Dionne Jr, at WaPo, suggests that there’s a “Rising Radical Center“:
The Democrats’ dependence on moderate voters and moderate candidates belies Republican claims that a Democratic victory would bring radically liberal politics to Washington. In fact, the first imperative of Democratic congressional leaders, if their party is successful, will be finding policies, ideas and rhetoric to allow the party’s progressives and moderates to get along and govern effectively together.
[snip]
There has long been talk about the rise of a “radical center,” made up of voters essentially moderate in their philosophical leanings but radical in their disaffection with the status quo. This looks to be the year of the radical center. If it is, the Democrats will win. And if they win, their task will be to meet the aspirations of a diverse group of dissatisfied and disappointed Americans. Not an easy chore, but one that certainly beats being in the opposition.
Hmmm… Unlike Justin Gardner, I’m rating that as a maybe. Time will certainly tell, though.
More thoughts on this independent voter wave from Thought Theater, and TMV (here and here).
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