There’s One Extreme, Not Two

David Brooks is insufferable. He continues to moan about the inadequacies of the ‘center’ in this country. He so desperately wants to support someone or something, but there is no representation for his fantasyland ideology.

…these days, the political center is a feckless shell. It has no governing philosophy. Its paragons seem from the outside opportunistic, like Arlen Specter, or caught in some wishy-washy middle, like Blanche Lincoln. The right and left have organized, but the center hasn’t bothered to. The right and left have media outlets and think tanks, but the centrists are content to complain about polarization and go home. By their genteel passivity, moderates have ceded power to the extremes.

Can we be honest for just half a second? Take a look at the Democratic Party and show me, identify for me, who the extremists are. Once you’ve identified them for me, please explain how much power they have and how effective they are at wielding that power. How did their views get incorporated into the economic recovery bill, the health care bill, or the Wall Street Reform bill?

Compare the present Democratic Party to the party of the 1990’s, 1980’s, 1970’s, and 1960’s. Where, on an ideological scale, does the present party reside? My answer? To the left of the 1990’s party and to the right of the 1960-1980’s party. This holds true for everything except race, where the party has never been more enlightened. Now, make the same comparison for the GOP. Where does the present GOP reside on the ideological scale? My answer? They are farther to the right than they have ever been. They are miles to the right of the party that pursued and impeached Bill Clinton over a blow job. They are to the right of the party that gave carte blanche to George W. Bush to fuck up everything in sight. They are the definition of extreme. It’s now mainstream in the Republican Party to doubt the theories of evolution and plate tectonics and to dispute that climate change is occurring. Show me anything comparable in the worldview of mainstream Democrats. You won’t find it.

The center hasn’t ceded power to the extremes. You have one party that is trying to govern in a recognizably American way, and another party that is debating whether it was a mistake to desegregate lunch counters. Given that choice, what does it even mean to be in the center? If you can’t make a choice with these options, maybe the center is the place for imbeciles.