I count myself politically and intellectually among a segment of the Democratic Party known as “Blue Dog” Democrats. Blue Dogs tend to be fiscally conservative, socially liberal, and often work to build a bridge between the right and left wings of “politics as usual.”
Years ago I found the harsh voices on either side of the divide exhausting. Feeling like a politically “battered” Rodney King, I wanted to shout, “Can’t we all just get along and get something worthwhile done?!" I’ve no time for the hatred and entrenched positions. Such rancor may sell ad space, but it is so detrimental to anything productive.
With this in mind, I’d direct you to the writings of Gerald Seib in the Wall Street Journal yesterday (Centrist Bloc Finds a Voice Amid Senate Stimulus Debate, Gerald F. Seib, WSJ 02.05.2009). Seib reports on a group in the Senate who have met by that proverbial water fountain, and worked to cut $100-$300 Billion from the Stimulus Package the House passed with such partisan acrimony.
According to Seib, Senator Susan Collins (Maine) is largely responsible for bringing and holding together a “hardy band of senators from both parties” and their proposal is likely to be voted on today (Friday, February 06, 2009).
After pledging allegiance to the United States of America we often run off in our various directions trying to prove that the patriotism of our group is greater than all others. We’d be better off placing our allegiance to America above that of party or state and working to re-build our once great nation.
We need the Center in the Senate not only to live but to grow. We need the birth of a new Center in the House. More than that, we need an overwhelming Center to cut across the partisanship that divides our nation and to pull us together as Americans.
I hope the newly formed Center in the Senate will hold. More than that, I hope it will spread.
5 comments:
I agree. The center has been exiled to the fringes of political discourse. And, ironically, the fringes have dominated the center of it. Far too long have we been accused of either a) compromising our principles or b) having none to begin with (see George Lakoff). While we think we're right (I mean, who doesn't think they're right?), what makes us unique is being open to the possibility that we're wrong. The entire system of representative government is designed to exploit this need for compromise, hopefully for the benefit of the entire Nation.
suboptimist.com
Couldn't agree more, Lon!! If only there were more people in this world (and especially in politics) like you.
-Christa
I was just thinking about this... Isn't a "blue dog" Democrat basically a Libertarian? Just wondering!
I was just thinking about this... Couldn't a "blue dog" Democrat be considered a Libertarian? I remember learning something about that in school.
Drew - if it weren't for their liberal social agenda then this may well be the case, but that very agenda makes all the difference, for where a libertarian basically believes in little or no government, a Blue Dog tends to believe that government must provide for the common good, but should do it without being fiscally irresponsible. In my own case, I believe that it is important that we have a strong Federal Government to ensure that all that liberal social agenda is consistently applied and enforced. I'm not much of a "states rights" guy. While Libertarian and Liberal start with the same letter - they move pretty far from one another pretty quickly.
Post a Comment