Democrats should stop chasing the 'sensible centrists'

[n2doc]

They don't exist. Voter suppression, on the other hand, is very real.
NOAH BERLATSKY

Republicans jostle to prove they are true conservatives; Democrats jostle to prove that they aren't liberals. So it has been since Clintonian triangulation in the 1990s brought us welfare reform and race-baiting Sister Souljah, and so it remains today, if Dick Durbin is to be believed. The No. 2 Democrat in the Senate declared last week on Chicago radio that, to defeat Donald Trump, Democrats need to be sure not to "overdo it" by moving too far left. "We have to really appeal to the sensible center," Durbin said, showing a touching faith in the swing voters who just last November chose a self-confessed sexual abuser over a sensible centrist.

Durbin was, to be fair, explaining why downstate Illinois Democratic candidates were likely to be more conservative than Chicago-area candidates. But "local candidates should fit their constituency" is a different argument from "Democrats need to be more centrist." For example, Dianne Feinstein is considerably more conservative than her constituents, which is why she's facing a primary challenge. Some Democratic candidates will be more to the left than others. But that doesn't mean centrist voters are the most important overall, nor that they are necessarily "sensible."

On the contrary, the results of the 2016 election strongly suggest that voters are not sensible at all, if "sensible" means "voting on pragmatic centrist policy proposals." Trump barely had policy proposals, much less pragmatic ones. He babbled about a wall and offered vague promises about magically making coal mines great again. His proposals were so obviously incoherent that his media enablers were forced to mutter about how people should take him seriously but not literally, by which they meant that people should vote for him even though he was spouting nonsense.

The thing is, voters' policy preferences are generally nonsensical. There is no "sensible center." Instead, there's a squishy non-ideological muddle.

more
https://psmag.com/social-justice/democrats-pls-stop-chasing-mythical-centrists-start-fighting-voter-suppression

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Best discriptive

statement in some time,concerning that so called invisible middle which,btw,is nothing more than a Media creation.

[Cary]

2. Illinois voted 70% for Hillary Clinton

I don't think Dick Durbin is chasing anyone. To be fair, what Dick Durbin was saying had absolutely nothing to do with the point the author was trying to make. That doesn't speak well for the author.

[n2doc]

3. Try reading the article

The point is, turnout and voter suppression are the most important factors

Illinois was and always will be a blue state. She still lost the EC.

[Cary]

5. So the subject is me, personally. Right?

Can you address my post instead of attacking me? Or is this all you've got?

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. I believe in neither centrists or independents. Just people on their way to the (R) label

[Cary]

6. I see mainstream Democrats as the majority

With hate based ideologues throwing brickbats at us from the far left and the far right.

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. what is a mainstream Democrat? I see myself as a very left positioned liberal

I describe myself much more in ideology/principles than a political label. The main part of the party is moving well right of where I've always been.

[Cary]

8. And how's that working out for you?

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. personally - great in that I stand by and live my principals. I am consistent - I treat people the

way I like to be treated. I am not seduced by wealth or power. I live a life where I treat all with respect.

The rightward drift of our country and our party has not served any of us well. Centrism is a pretty weak hand.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

13. Because it's all about you

Meanwhile the far right controls your state but at least you're politically pure. Never mind everyone else in North Carolina is losing out.

[NRaleighLiberal]

14. Nope. I get involved as best I can. Are you defending centrism? I am saying I am consistent and

true to my ideology and beliefs.

What the hell is wrong with you?

So you think that we are supposed to right the train to the right?

You think that we are not supposed to each be responsible for how we live our lives?

[FiveGoodMen]

9. Centrism is an idiotic approach in any era

If you basically say, "I'm going to agree with the average opinion," then you needn't participate at all. If you really manage to vote with the average of others then you won't sway anything.

Try this: pick a few numbers and calculate their average value.

Now, put that average value at the end of the list -- as many times as you like -- and average the new list...

Notice anything?

More to the point, however, is that if you just try to sit in the middle of everyone else's views then you have no moral compass or useful points of your own. And the more the country moves to the right, the more such self-defined centrists will move to the right (just half as fast).

It's entirely possible that someone looks at all the data, chooses what they think is the best set of values and finds themselves to be a centrist-by-coincidence. That's different from defining yourself that way in the first place.

Even then, if we want to sway such voters, we need to appeal to their sense of decency, fairness, and justice.

[NRaleighLiberal]

12. centrism is weakness of character, conviction or beliefs.

[Lil Missy]

10. Wishful thinking.