The “Moderate Movement” Looks an Awful Lot Like the Democrats with New Marketing

 

Every few months, Morton Kondracke comes out with an article decrying the state of contemporary politics and calling for a return of “moderation.” Most of his articles, like this one from last June and a more recent one from September, are primarily concerned with new “moderate” groups gaming the system and fighting to take power away from the “duopoly” of the two-party system.

There’s much less discussion of what the “moderate” positions on contemporary issues actually are. But there is this one paragraph near the end of the second article.

On many hot-button issues, majorities are moderate: 60 percent favor stricter gun controls. Sixty percent want to keep or strengthen Obamacare and 74 percent don’t approve of Republicans’ efforts to dismantle it. They are split on the merits of a single-payer health system now being advanced by most 2018 Democratic presidential prospects. Forty percent believe there is too much political correctness in the country; 55 percent say there is too much prejudice. Sixty-eight percent want to allow non-criminal undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship and 60 percent oppose building a wall at the Mexican border. Sixty percent also believe that human beings cause climate change and that more action needs to be taken to combat it.

So according to polls, “moderates” favor Obamacare, political correctness, gun control, amnesty for illegal immigrants, and implementation of the radical Green Agenda. Unless I’m mistaken, we already have a political party that supports all of those things.

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  1. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Ugh. Bring back the alternative party.

    • #1
  2. Kate Braestrup Member
    Kate Braestrup
    @GrannyDude

    Yup.

    For what it’s worth, when I joined up here at Ricochet, I totally planned to turn all of you into Democrats.

    So any move toward reasoned discourse should be encouraged,

    • #2
  3. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    What a crock.  All designed to help the radical left.

    • #3
  4. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Good call, VTK.

    • #4
  5. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Looks like “Let’s throw a bunch of polling numbers out there to prove my point, but keep the actual poll questions buried behind links.”

    • #5
  6. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    The thing about actual moderates is that they’re too moderate to start a movement. So when you see organizations vociferously claiming “We’re moderates!” you can bet they probably aren’t.

    • #6
  7. Ekosj Member
    Ekosj
    @Ekosj

    Democrats have moved steadily leftward, so even if Republicans stay the same, ‘moderate’ as in halfway between them, drifts left as well.  Mainstream  Democrat positions now support gun confiscation and 2nd amendment repeal, nationalised healthcare, and open borders.    So gun control, Obamacare and amnesty seem ‘moderate’’

    • #7
  8. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Dead on.  We must stop calling liberal establishment Republicans moderate just because they aren’t conservative, or Democrats moderate just because they aren’t bomb throwing marxists.   Belief in limited government, the constitution, traditional values, things that we all called main stream  in my youth are now called right wing, radical and immoderate.  This is crazy and I don’t understand why we use their language.  Progressives were what we called them before the great depression turned them into fascists, which is the label these blind, ignorant and  dishonest folks call those who support limited government under the rule of law.

    • #8
  9. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Ekosj (View Comment):
    Democrats have moved steadily leftward, so even if Republicans stay the same, ‘moderate’ as in halfway between them, drifts left as well. Mainstream Democrat positions now support gun confiscation and 2nd amendment repeal, nationalised healthcare, and open borders. So gun control, Obamacare and amnesty seem ‘moderate’’

    Reminds me of the polling that Clinton did in the very early days of his administration.  You could choose whether you thought that on health care he was going too far or not far enough. But you were not given the choice of saying he was going in the wrong direction.

    • #9
  10. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    I think moderation is an excellent thing, when taken in moderation.

    • #10
  11. Victor Tango Kilo Member
    Victor Tango Kilo
    @VtheK

    Wonder how many of those “moderates” would still be “moderate” if they found out that full implementation of those “moderate” policy choices would require tax rates in the 55-60% range and probably losing their job to an immigrant who would work for less.

    • #11
  12. rgbact Inactive
    rgbact
    @romanblichar

    The Democrats problem is they’ve become the virtue signaling party. Hence, lots of people claim to be for their issues, just to show how good they are. But when it comes down to it….its conservative voters that vote on guns and vote on immigration and nobody really votes on climate except a few hardcore lefties. Therefore, the “moderate” platform has broad appeal, but paper thin support…that crumbles when the details become known

    Interesting to hear what Mort doesn’t like about Democrats, if anything.

     

    • #12
  13. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    rgbact (View Comment):
    Interesting to hear what Mort doesn’t like about Democrats, if anything.

    Could be he just wants them to do a better job of hiding their intentions.

    • #13
  14. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Mor-ton.

    • #14
  15. drlorentz Member
    drlorentz
    @drlorentz

    Victor Tango Kilo: [quoting Kondracke] They are split on the merits of a single-payer health system now being advanced by most 2018 Democratic presidential prospects.

    Is Mr. Kondracke living in an alternative US or is he hoping for an extra-constitutional special election for president in 2018? You know… after Trump is removed from office.

    • #15
  16. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    VTK,

    “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” – Barry Goldwater 1964

    Good Post VTK.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #16
  17. contrarian Inactive
    contrarian
    @Contrarian

    My idea of a moderate is someone seeking a middle ground between the opposing positions. His idea seems to be that if you get 55% support you can call your position moderate. By the way, his polls show support for things which are rather vague, and where the rubber meets the road is on specific policies. I believe in climate change but I don’t support the Democrats desired policies – they aren’t moderate. What I would support is deemed too modest by environmentalists.

    • #17
  18. Derek Simmons Member
    Derek Simmons
    @

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):
    The thing about actual moderates is that they’re too moderate to start a movement. So when you see organizations vociferously claiming “We’re moderates!” you can bet they probably aren’t.

    Bingo. Fringes are kept fringe and relatively impotent by moderates. That we have virulent fringes gobbling up “their” side of the middle, is the fault of moderates. “They” remind me of an entire cohort of Neimollers too late arriving at an understanding of their own roll in the rise of the respective “fringes”.

    We’ll never get out of this world alive

    • #18
  19. YouCantMeanThat Coolidge
    YouCantMeanThat
    @michaeleschmidt

    I am totally not a dittohead but I am a sucker for the well-turned metaphor: (With liberties) That which is in the middle of the road is road kill — or soon will be.

    • #19
  20. BThompson Inactive
    BThompson
    @BThompson

    Listen to all the true Scotsmen! You’re all sooooo conservative!

    • #20
  21. Derek Simmons Member
    Derek Simmons
    @

    The Reticulator (View Comment):
    Could be he just wants them to do a better job of hiding their intentions.

    FBI should give lessons.

    • #21
  22. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Kondracke opposes the sudden imposition of a radical leftist agenda.  He believes it should be done slowly (moderately?) with far more rhetorical anesthesia along the way.

    • #22
  23. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    He believes it should be done slowly (moderately?) with far more rhetorical anesthesia along the way.

    OldB,

    So that’s my problem. I must have an extremely high tolerance level for rhetorical anesthesia. The least exposure to idiotic arguments gives me extreme pain.

    Knowledge will set you free.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #23
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