Is America a Center-Right Nation?

[marmar]

from The American Prospect:



Is America a Center-Right Nation?

John McCain is counting on the idea that the country is center-right at heart. The Democrats are going to have to convince Americans that bad government is the result of conservative contempt for basic institutions of governance.

Paul Waldman | April 8, 2008 | web only



John McCain faces a serious challenge in this election year -- a struggling economy, a war the public is eager to see ended, a deeply unpopular president, and perhaps most importantly, the natural swing of the pendulum after eight years of Republican rule (only once since the 1940s has a party won three consecutive presidential elections). Nonetheless, conservatives continue to assure themselves that in the end, they reside where the country sits ideologically.

McCain, avers George Will, is "a center-right candidate seeking to lead a center-right country." Tom Cole, the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, agrees: "I believe that it is still a center-right country, and I think this election will show that," he told the New York Times Magazine. "America is a center-right country and in modern times has not elected a thoroughgoing liberal as president," pleaded former Bush adviser Peter Wehner last week in the Wall Street Journal.

You can hear the hint of desperation in their voices. What they probably suspect, and what progressives are hoping, is that the conservative era that arrived with Ronald Reagan in 1980 is finally reaching its end, dragged into its grave by George W. Bush. The moment for a resurgence of activist government may have finally arrived.

But in order to make it happen, Democrats will have to overcome a deep skepticism among the public, not about the relative abilities of the opposition party but about government itself. As the most recent Gallup poll on the subject shows, the public's faith in government is as low as it has been at any point since they started asking the question thirty-five years ago.

Given the combination of dishonesty, corruption and incompetence that has marked the current administration, it's hard to blame the American people for their distrust. Republicans argue that government can't do anything right, then set about to prove it once they grab government's reins. Each successive Republican administration only provides more evidence for their contention that government is a bumbling beast incapable of solving problems. Few notice that they never deliver on their promises to reduce its size and scope; as a portion of GDP, the postwar federal government was at its biggest during the years of that famed enemy of big government, Ronald Reagan. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=is_america_a_centerright_nation

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Yes, and the "center" has been shifting right for at least three decades

Barry Goldwater, the very icon of right wing conservatism in the 60s, would be quite at home in today's new left.

[rocktivity]

5. DING DING DING! TechBear, you're our grand prize winner!

Barry Goldwater, the very icon of right wing conservatism in the 60s, would be quite at home in today's new left.

That's the basis of the C.C. Goldwater/Stephanie Miller presidental "platform":

Our...grandfather and father ran for President and Vice President in 1964, and now we’re making our own fun run for the White House. Why? Well, number one, we want to make a point that today’s Bush administration/Republican party is not something that Barry Goldwater or Bill Miller would recognize...

http://www.goldwatermiller08.com

:headbang:
rocknation

[TooBigaTent]

2. At least that far to the right. Maybe farther. Because of the geographic accident

of being separated from the rest of the world and protected by two oceans, the US has not suffered the consequences of its attacks against other nations. All we lose are replaceable resources (people).

As a consequence of the lack of consequences, Americans have taken a strange stance on issues - individually, we espouse what many have identified as "liberal" positions while turning the control of our government and lives over to the corporate interests who are very far on the right-wing. We are comfortable so everything must be just fine.

Contrast us with Europe. Our "liberals" would be easily to the (far) right-of-center continuum in almost every country across the Atlantic. Hopefully, the rest of the world will not let the US impede planetary progress.

[DumpDavisHogg]

3. The gov't is far-right, but the people lean left

In every survey, the average American is more likely to take liberal positions than conservative positions on almost every issue.

Even in my state, people are somewhat socially conservative, but very fiscally liberal.

[jgraz]

4. Egg-zactly

Most people, when asked, are downright socialist.

[Mudoria]

6. Until they realize that means their taxes will have to go up..

[jgraz]

7. Two problems with that

First, a truly fair tax system would not need to raise taxes on the majority of people

Second, there's a Gallup/CBS poll from last summer where somewhere around 60% of people say they would pay higher taxes if it meant single-payer healthcare.