Retaking the political middle

As many of us have railed and ranted against in the past few years, both the Democratic and Republican parties have gone extreme.  The right has gone right and the left has gone left.  The middle is largely absent.  This has really hurt our country’s ability to get anything done.  It seriously risks our prosperity, and moreso the prosperity of the next generations.

I read an article last week with an interesting thought. (For the life of me, I can’t find it.  If anyone saw it, please let me know so I can add the link.).  If things go on the way they are trending, it will get worse before it gets better. The demographic changes – growth of minorities who typically vote Democratic – will keep the Dems in the White House.  Gerrymandering and population density in rural areas and the South will keep the GOP controlling Congress.  So we will have gridlock forever going forward.

The one opportunity is if one of the parties retakes the middle.  This doesn’t mean going after Independents.  Research suggests that most people who register as Independents consistently hold either conservative or liberal opinions, they just don’t want to be affiliated with a party they don’t believe in.  On the other hand, moderates are people of any party who hold middle of the road policy positions.  Research here shows that they come from all parties as well as unaffiliated voters.

The author (of the article I can’t find) thinks that only one party can do this.  Because both parties force themselves to disagree on everything, even when they traditionally agree (e.g. Mitt Romney invented Obamacare), the first one who retakes the middle will force the other party to go more extreme, not less. So the first party to retake the middle could control government decades.

The author thinks that the Dems have a better chance to do this.  Not because they are better, but ironically because they are so dysfunctional.  The left has not been able to scare the bejeezus out of incumbents from being “primaried” like the Tea Party has done to the GOP middle.

For myself, I would vote for whichever party shifts the party platform to the middle.  Especially if it forces the other one to be more extreme.