We are a center right nation, you just didn't realize it.
We are still a center-right country and if you have any doubts about that just listen to the news. Listen to Morning Joe on MSNBC and Joe Scarborough and company will repeat it ad naseum throughout the morning. Watch CNN and every announcer will make mention of fact. Watch Hardball and you'll be sure to hear Chris Matthews talking about it. Pick up a newspaper and read the columns, it will be in there somewhere.
Center-right. What does that mean? I guess we'll have to figure it out based on what the country thinks.
The country just voted for this man in droves, so he must have won over the center-right, which means he must represent the center-right.
In fact, if you look at this map, which is skewed based on population and not land mass, you can see that if we are center-right then it must be the Democratic Party that represents the center-right. After all, if it were Republicans that represented the center-right, then you would expect to see more red, right...errr....center right?
But, look. Some people will say that this whole election was about George Bush and W. is not a conservative. So, John McCain, the independent maverick did not represent enough change from the Bush administration for America, which is center-right. So, doesn't that mean that the center-right thought Barack Obama better represented them?
What does Barack Obama stand for anyways?
- Universal Healthcare.
- Ending the war in Iraq.
- Sensible immigration policy that does not include mass deportation.
- Government regulation of Wall Street.
- Government regulation of Big Oil and Big Pharma.
- Public works programs to put people to work, similar to the New Deal.
- A decrease in our carbon-based economy.
- Increases in spending for public education.
Well, that is just a beginning list, but seems to me that the center-right that elected Barack Obama wants pretty much the same stuff I do. Cool.
Of course, I guess we could just ask America what they want directly, like through one of those new-fangled poll thingees.
How about that Universal Healthcare? According to Pew in mid-October:
All in all, do you favor or oppose the U.S. government guaranteeing health insurance for
all citizens, even if it means raising taxes
Favor:............58
Oppose:........35
Cheeeeeeck, center-right country supports guarantee health insurance based on a tax-payer system, a Democratic position.
All in all, do you favor or oppose providing a way for illegal immigrants currently in the
country to gain legal citizenship if they pass background checks, pay fines, and have jobs?
Favor:............66
Oppose:........30
Cheeeeeeeeck, center-right country supports path to immigration that does not include deporting all illegal immigrants, a Democratic position.
Now, here is one of those red herring issues the right-wing likes to throw out, so I am sure Obama and Democrats are out of touch with it.
Do you think abortion should be Legal in all cases, Legal in most cases, Illegal in most cases, Illegal in all cases:
Legal in all cases...........19
Legal in most cases.......38
Illegal in most cases......22
Illegal in all cases..........14
Hmmm, so that means that 57% of people think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while only 36% think it should be illegal in all or most cases. Wow, I was wrong again, Americans support legal abortion, a Democratic position.
If we jump over to CNN and their long-running poll about Iraq, we find that Democrats are again out of touch with the Center-right majority of this nation.
Do you favor or oppose the U.S. war in Iraq
Favor:...........33
Oppose:........64
Oops, dangit, looks like center-right country support ending the war in Iraq, which is a Democratic position.
I think y'all get the point. This is NOT a center-right nation, it is at best a centrist nation and right now we are a Progressive Nation. People want Universal Healthcare based on government intervention, they want government interfering in business transactions, they want the government out of Iraq, they want illegal immigrants to be able to become American citizens.
Keep this in mind as you hear this kind of right-leaning drivel from conservative Democrats here in North Carolina. We might not have swept Barack Obama into the White House with a 54-43 victory here in North Carolina - but we did win. Barack Obama and all those progressive stances? They won. WE won.
Progressive positions won in North Carolina.
- Robert P.'s blog
- 982 reads
I'm proud to be center-right.
in this new world where center right means "Progressive" or even "Liberal".
"You could say, 'Look, is this guy, Laden, really the bad guy that's depicted?' Most of us have never heard of him before." John McCain, following Clinton's strikes on al Qaeda camps
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
You may have seen Rep Jeff Flake's (R-Arizona) Op-ed in
your paper. It was published here. Center-Right must be the new Republican buzz phrase...he used it.
Flake's editorial page article opined that all he and his fellow Republican leaders have to do to win back voter's confidence is to refocus on GOP traditional "first principles" of limited government, fiscal responsibility, economic freedom, strong national defense, the 2nd Amendment, etc.
Given that the Republicans held a majority in both the House and Senate six of the past eight years and controlled the executive branch, one wonders if perhaps emergency surgery to remove their heads from their lower anatomy would be an appropriate first step. That done, perhaps folks like Rep. Flake could see that limited government doesn't include dismantling the FDA so that our food supplies are compromised, that economic freedom doesn't mean allowing unregulated financial institutions to charge 30% on credit card debt or to savage our economy by creating and selling worthless investment instruments.
Flake's GOP might also consider refocusing on America's first principles of honesty, justice, equality, secular government and individual freedom rather than promoting bigotry, religious fanaticism, homophobia, abortion hysteria, and the dismantling of our Constitution. It would also serve the GOP leadership to recall that millions of Democrats are gun owners and hunters, and that our blood too has flowed to protect this nation. We’re equally strong on Defense and the right to bear arms. Flake is a flake.
Stan Bozarth
I think this is good news.
So long as Republicans think they can win through "framing" and framing alone, we'll win. We figured out the whole framing thing back in 2005, but we've also been right on the positions. It helps when you have cutesy names AND better ideas. So, as far as I'm concerned they can continue to focus on convincing people this is a center-right country and then when we pass things that 50+% of the country supports it will be attributed to Obama and Democrats. They can talk all they want about Democrats being wise and having a center-right agenda, but in the end folks will see Democrats controlling all branches and passing legislation they like.
"You could say, 'Look, is this guy, Laden, really the bad guy that's depicted?' Most of us have never heard of him before." John McCain, following Clinton's strikes on al Qaeda camps
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
Great post!
I'm very happy to declare myself center-right too!
Ha! WE ARE CENTER RIGHT! And heaven help us if the lefties take over.
Forked Tongues
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There are people in every time and every land who want to stop history in its tracks. They fear the future, mistrust the present, and invoke the security of the comfortable past which, in fact, never existed. - Robert F. Kennedy
There you are!
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Robin Hayes lied, Robin Hayes cried and thousands of folks lost th
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Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
I agree - they can call it whatever they want.
If "center-right" floats their boat, that's just fine. As long as our Democratic positions are advanced, I don't care if they call it Looney Toons. (and I'm sure some of them will.)
:)
You should care
This is the party of "repeat a lie often enough the American people believe it" we're talking about. After they convince enough of "we the people" that America is a center right country they will start talking about their center right leaders...oh...say...like Newt Gingrich. I was working on a diary about that, but had to stop to do some techie work on all my various sites.
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Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
I'm was being facetious, and still gloating just a little.
But I'm not so sure that what we call something matters as much as what that something does, and is. Newt Gingrich will never agree with those agendas listed above. It might be that some people will think that he does if he allows himself to be called by the same name as the "Center-Right" administration and Congress. However, I think that this election showed that with new, younger voters coming into the mix, something we've known for a long time will be evident in every election: there is power in knowledge, and knowledge is now available to anyone with an internet connection. We internet political junkies have known that for years, but one of the beauties of the Obama campaign's use of the internet for fund-raising, organizing, and disseminating information is that now there are millions more who will use the internet to share information and pass along their own ideas (and financial support.)
After writing the above, I have to admit:
It irks me to even be called "center", let alone "right". No I'm not. No I'm not. :-P
But, don't forget.
That since Reagan the right has been able to redefine the center. They have been able to redefine all abortion as far-left, they have been able to redefine all opposition to the war as far-left, they have been able to redefine universal healthcare as socialism or communism.
Now, they are trying to use the same playbook, but what they are left with is trying to take credit for Obama's plans as "center-right". If we get to the point where the entire country believes getting out of Iraq is center-right and expanding health insurance through taxpayer dollars is center-right, then we have won back "the left". If we start seriously debating single-payer as "the left" instead of communism while Republicans are calling for just expanding federal programs to pay for the uninsured, then we are back to 1980. Which is a start.
Can we immediately go to a place where single-payer is centrist? Probably not, although I would love to see us try.
Can we immediately go carbon neutral, shut down all coal-powered plants in 5 years and call it centrist? Probably not. Maybe, though.
I don't want Republicans taking credit for our ideas any more than you do. But, we have the Presidency, the House by a bunch, and it's looking like 58 or 59 seats in the Senate. When Republicans had this majority and Democrats voted in lock-step with them who got the "credit" for their policies? The Republicans. They owned the last 8 years even if Dems voted with them much of the time.
We own the next 4 years, good or bad. If Republicans want to move the country to the left by trying to take ownership of Universal Healthcare, then we can start talking about single-payer in 4 years.
"You could say, 'Look, is this guy, Laden, really the bad guy that's depicted?' Most of us have never heard of him before." John McCain, following Clinton's strikes on al Qaeda camps
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
Center Left it is
We are not left, but center left. Not one of the talking heads on the cable shows (or network for that matter) are journalist. They are entertainers. Their job is to provide entertainment for their viewers---that's all. They provide no real insight to any issue facing the nation. Since the Rs are out of power, then their talking heads must say those things that will 1) piss off anyone who leans left, and 2) use the rovian tactic of saying it over and over hoping it will stick; Just because these bllithering empty heads say we are a center right nation does not make it so. Obama's election clearly shows that we are leaning left.
ps. I'm am bias, but at least KO and RM try (with the limited minuets they have)to provide context and depth to the stories they cover.