GOP’s 30-year spin job is over: Why we are NOT a center-right nation

[DonViejo]

From minimum wage to the environment to abortion, America is far more liberal than the media or the right admit

JOSHUA SAGER

It is a persistent belief among many in the political and media establishments, fed by decades of right-wing propaganda, that the United States is a “center-right nation” that finds progressives to be far too liberal for mainstream positions of power.

If you look purely at electoral outcomes, those who assert this appear to have a fairly strong point. The last several decades of federal politics have been dominated by center-right policies and truly left-wing politicians have been largely marginalized (e.g., Bernie Sanders). Even Clinton and Obama — the last two Democratic presidents who, theoretically, should be leftists — are corporate-friendly moderates who have triangulated during negotiations with Republicans to pass center-right policy compromises (e.g., Obama’s Heritage Foundation-inspired ACA or the Clinton Defense of Marriage Act compromise).

While electoral results may support the idea of a center-right nation, looking beyond electoral politics — which involve a mixture of policy choices, party politics, fundraising and propaganda — and focusing purely upon raw policy preferences leaves us with an entirely different picture.

Here is a compilation of polling data from various reputable American polling organizations, describing the policy preferences of the Americans people over the last year.

more:
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/28/gops_30_year_spin_job_is_over_why_we_are_not_a_center_right_nation/

[unblock]

1. what we have is a center-left country with far too much money & power in the hands of the far right.

and a system set up to ensure the continued power of the minority on the far right at the expense of the majority in the center-left.

[Loudly]

2. But for some reason, this just isn't translating into votes.

[B Calm]

4. I thought the democrats in congress had more votes than the republicans

in the last election.

[Lochloosa]

5. A million more...

[uponit7771]

13. Yeap, we no longer have a functioning democracy... only 2 times in US history has a group voted that

...overwhelmingly in favor of the party in power and not won the seats.

[Lochloosa]

6. That is a deceptive map. The blue areas are the high population areas.

There were over a million more votes cast for Dems for the House.

Gerrymandering has diluted that reality in many areas of the country.

This one works a little better...

[truebluegreen]

10. Exactly right.

Republicans think land should have a bigger vote than people.

[TBF]

20. That will likely be the next Supreme Court case -

they are already giving corporations higher status.

[Enthusiast]

21. PLUS ONE!

[Bandit]

25. It always amazes me how all that empty land gets so many votes.

Population centers are blue and empty land is always red..

[alp227]

3. The irony is that people support liberal positions

but are conditioned by talk radio and other media to shy away from the liberal label

[Mike Nelson]

7. This lie is still repeated on...

By "morning Joe" and his ilk. The map which looks red is actually blue - people vote, not land.

[Lochloosa]

8. Something like this?

[B Calm]

12. +1

[Mike Nelson]

18. +2

yup.

[stupidicus]

9. that's really kinda old news

http://us.search.yahoo.com/search?p=myth+of+a+center+right+nation&fr=chr-comodo

which begs the question as to why our "lefty" leaders don't put more effort into making it common knowledge

[KG]

11. The dem party leadership has bought in to spin

[Enthusiast]

23. The dem party leadership has conveniently bought in to spin.

To satisfy their big corporate contributors.

[colsohlibgal]

14. The Big Lie Technique In Action

Gerrymandering, propaganda by Fox and others, and undue influence by sparely populated states and areas, have been keeping this big lie from being exposed.

[Silent3]

15. It's not over until people stop voting as if it were true

It's stupid, the electoral results are unrepresentative, but it isn't over yet.

[santamargarita]

16. Is that Reagan shitstain starting to come out?

[BillZBubb]

17. One label, center right, center, center left really doesn't fit.

Sure we can make a list of polling data the show sizable majorities are liberal on those issues. The republicans can do the same for right wing issues.

The problem lies with the WEIGHTING of the issues in peoples voting behavior. For instance, it is very easy to get people to claim to support protecting the environment. Liberal right? But then when environmental protection clashes with some other issue they hold dearer, the environment is forgotten. We see this time and again. A lot of right wingers "support the environment, but..."

My interpretation of the data is that at this point in our history the US is to the right of center on preponderance of issues that matter. We had a chance to change that after bush's disastrous presidency, but for many reasons we failed. The pendulum will swing back to the left, but we're not there yet.

[CTyankee]

19. I thinkyou are right, but only on issues that are very complicated, as I think issues on the

environment are for some. And often environmental concerns are paired up with a jobs question and if pitted against each other, jobs win every time.

The only issues I can think of that are more straightforward for most people is whether or not they support SS, Medicare and UI. Those tend to be unencumbered by hot button subjects like race and abortion, for example.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

22. The real problem: Most of the "center-left" is too passive

And more than willing to let the right and far-right drown them out.

[Enthusiast]

24. I would give more credit to the strictly controlled corporate message on network news

and TV in general. We have been drowned out because we do not have equal access to the airwaves.