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Let’s Create a National Majority Party: Moderate GOP Could Colonize the Right Wing of the Democratic Party

LOS ANGELES

GELFAND’S WORLD--Back during the administration of George W Bush, I pondered the goal of restoring liberalism to American politics. 

The word liberal had a negative feel at the time -- it had been turned into a pejorative by Ronald Reagan, but it is still the best policy descriptor for the way to run a modern American republic. 

Even the simple idea of allowing all Americans the right to purchase health insurance has been called out as a liberal position by the radical right wingers who now control the Republican party. 

If a country as conservative as Switzerland can create and enforce a system of universal coverage, it seems strange that we cannot do the same. We also ought to reject cruelty and revenge as the ultimate motivators for government action. It's time for moderate Republicans to abandon their party either by registering as independents or by forming a wing in the Democratic Party dedicated to public honesty and fiscal sanity. 

While they are at it, they might consider my invitation to consider liberalism as it really is, rather than as the parody of liberalism that the right-wing noise machine likes to portray. 

I conceived of this colonization idea more than a decade ago, during a time when George W Bush was pushing a stupid sort of conservatism -- as opposed to the more recent tearing-babies-from-their-mothers'-arms version. Upon the election of Barack Obama, I put the essay on the shelf. Perhaps it's time to take it down again. 

It's time for decent people to reject the party of Trump 

It seems that I'm not alone in this. George Will, who made a career out of conservative writing and commentary, just published a column in the Washington Post titled Vote Against the GOP this November. There is a lesson here -- it's time for us moderates and centrists to take stock of the political winds. 

How hard are they blowing -- by which I mean, how far did George Will dare to go? Answer: He doesn't beat around the bush. He says plainly: "The principle: The congressional Republican caucuses must be substantially reduced." 

In other words, there needs to be Democratic control of the congress to keep Trump in line. In a long diatribe, Will eviscerates the current congressional Republicans for their failure to act. Here's one snippet: "Consider the melancholy example of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), who wagered his dignity on the patently false proposition that it is possible to have sustained transactions with today’s president, this Vesuvius of mendacities, without being degraded." 

I'm not sure that "Vesuvius of mendacities" is a good bumper sticker, even if it does describe Trump to a T, but it's nice that one of the best known conservatives of his generation is going out on this particular limb. 

Will is not alone. Long time Republican strategist Steven Schmidt, a man who advised and worked for George W Bush and John McCain, has followed a similar line. 

In a recent article published byThe Hill, Schmidt's position is described as "GOP strategist denounces party: Will vote for Democrats." Here's how he describes the current Republican Party: 

"It is corrupt, indecent and immoral. With the exception of a few Governors like Baker, Hogan and Kasich it is filled with feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party’s greatest leaders." 

Our country can do better. One way is to craft a majority party that would represent the centrist two-thirds of the voters. Today's Democrats are split between a left-leaning movement that refers to itself as progressive, alongside millions of moderate Democrats and independents who are wishing devoutly for a respite from cycles of Republican rule. Why not think about building a strong majority that will run the country for the next twenty-five or thirty years, much as New Deal Democrats ran the congress for about that amount of time. The party could coalesce around the New Deal reforms, fiscal sanity, and universal health coverage. 

There are already places where the Republican Party is making itself into a permanent minority. In California, there aren't even as many registered Republicans as there are independents. Considering all the Republicans we used to have as elected officials, third place is pretty far to fall. 

There are some legitimate questions about how a centrist party would function and what positions it would take. A lot of small business owners have preferred Republican positions on limitation of regulations and limiting the power of unions. But small business owners are most threatened by the recessions that almost universally follow Republican administrations. Right now, Trump's policies are dangerously risky for the small business sector. Trump is threatening a trade war right now -- who knows what he will do next month or next year? The trade war itself is equivalent to a recession among certain sectors of the economy. As we speak, Harley Davidson is moving some assembly work over to Europe. 

So, a policy of economic sanity might be all it takes to bring some business owners over the line. And most of us are aghast at the separation of children from their parents that has come to symbolize the personality of this administration. 

As for the rest of the divisive issues ranging from abortion to a legitimate discussion on immigration, let's just say that we may see some interesting debates at Democratic conventions. But if Trump provokes another recession, that would push a lot of people away from the Grand Old Party. 

Any realistic evaluation of economic behavior by the major parties will show that Democrats have been the party of fiscal sanity, while the Republicans have been reckless with their propensity to cut taxes on the rich while simultaneously approving massive increases in military spending. 

People who are fiscally conservative and socially liberal would do well to consider developing a modern Democratic Party for the twenty-first century. It won't be socialist or fascist. It will be American. It may include some of the social democracy espoused by Bernie Sanders, provided that enough centrists buy in. 

The alternative is that millions of Americans will remain enslaved to the health insurance industry.

 

(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected])  

-cw

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