The Center-Right Myth

We have been hearing pundits saying this is a center-right country on television for the last couple of weeks, despite all available evidence (check out this video for a sample). Newsweek even did a whole cover story on it. CNN even did a poll a week after the election to ask people if they wanted the country to head in a Democratic direction. We already had that poll -- it was called Election Day!

What is it going to take to get through the dunderheads in DC -- this is not a center-right country! In the last two elections the Democrats picked up over fifty seats in the House. They also took commanding control of the Senate and have now taken the White House. How much clearer did the American people have to be?

There is a reason for this talking point that America is center-right -- it is a way for the Republicans to control the agenda even though they have been voted out of power. It is a warning to Democrats by the DC establishment -- you better not actually be Democrats.

They would have to be foolish to fall into this trap. So, it is likely that they will fall into this trap. You know how the Democrats are; they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. The right time to buckle is always now. They're already doing it. After huffing and puffing, it looks like they are going to let Joe Lieberman keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

Someone needs to send the Democrats a memo that they won the election. But the media is sending them the exact opposite one -- you better behave like Republicans because... this is a center-right country.

By the way, one more thing -- this has never been a center-right country. Of course, there are pendulum swings in the political spectrum and the country is more conservative at times and more progressive at other times. But overall, we built the United Nations, we started the idea of human rights, we expanded voting rights and civil rights for everybody, we spread the idea of individual rights throughout the world, and we even rebuilt our enemies after World War II. It is no exaggeration to say that America is one of the most progressive countries in the history of the world.

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Comments

[Rictracee]

the right wing conservatives are living a fairy tale they WISH THIS COUNTRY WAS CENTER RIGHT.. IT IS VERY MUCH CENTER LEFT AND MOVING MORE LEFT AS TIME GOES ON

[peggyleg]

Liberalism is alive and present in the US government...I agree with this, I just do not believe the people who "voted" in the liberals know what they have done...it will take a few more years, now that we have a liberal POTUS-elect, before Americans realize what they have done, and then....watch out!

The American people DO NOT like being lied to, they well turn on these liberals as soon as the left-wing aganda fails, and it will fail, just like in the past.....

Do not get me wrong, I want BO to be sucessful, it just won't happen with him governing like the liberal he really is...

[veracity]

Sad but true, Cenk:


The bedrock foundation of both America's economy, and our culture, is the TRILLION DOLLAR PUBLIC WORKS _SOCIALIZED_ program known as - America's INTERSTATE Roads & HIGHWAY system.

ALL popular Right-Wing leaders - like Jesse Helms and Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens in his prime - became popular _precisely_ for their ability to bring home "PORK" - SOCIALIZED GOVERNMENT SPENDING for local roads and highways - to their home town constituents.

Today of course it is time for America to move FROM roads and highways to the next big think - much as at the Battle of Jutland half the ships of the two opposing fleets were still using obsolescent coal fired ships - but the fact is that America's cities, its suburbs, its exburbs, our freely mobile society, have ALL BEEN DEPENDENT on that vast SOCIALIZED system of publicly owned, use-all-you-want roads & highways.

It is simply AMAZING how Righties can squawk about "SOCIALISM!" in one breath, while bragging on their "pork" "bring home the bacon" skils in the next. Indeed, uber-Righties TED STEVENS and SARAH PALIN both come from the state - Alaska - which is THE MOST SOCIALIZED state in America !

[Geranium]

Over the last 30 years and 7 administrations, five were Rep. and two were 2 term. There were only two Dem administrations and one was 2 term.

CA, one of the most liberal states in the country, and 27 other states total, voted against gay marriage.

This Dem. Congress has a lower approval rating than Bush, something like 13%

Center Right.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[x004Ronin]

The Democratic party has a much higher favorability rating than the Republican party according to those same polls (by at least 10 points).
Obama and Biden have higher approval ratings than McCain and Palin.
The Congress has a low approval rating because it's not getting anything done. With 58 or more Senate seats, the Democrats don't have to worry about Republican filibusters (assuming they get 2 or 3 moderate Republicans to support their bills).

Center Left.

For more evidence, see the November 4th results in Indiana, Virginia and North Carolina (solidly center-right Republican states, right?)

[mjl422]

Whether center right or center left, Republicans need to realize that the center has shifted significantly. We live in a more diverse world. And educated people aren't afraid of other cultures and lifestyles. There are more multi-cultural friendships and multi-racial marriages than ever before.

It's getting harder to rule people by fear. Somebody better come up with some actual policies that better people's lives.

[DragonFly]

The 'center' is like middle 'C' on a musical scale, and ultra right-wing players keep trying to bend that 'scale' in an effort to shift center point.

But trying to bend the will of the mass from it's natural center point creates disharmony which ultimately leads to anger and disorientation.

We need to turn down the volume on those who trumpet falsely, and we need to start now.

[sicova]

This confirms that the Republican will always be the "bullies" of this country. The people who talk and do not act, but try to convince the others that they are right. The truth is that they only win when fear take center stage and lies are well constructed. But they are not build to run a gov. is not in their nature.

[johnbchap]

Cenk is Right. Not only have the Democrats picked up huge numbers in the House and Senate, the Democrats have won 4 of the last 5 Presidential elections. Remeber, Al Gore won in 2000, even though W was appointed by our Supreme Court.

[johnbchap]

The Democrats have won 4 of the last 5 Presidential Elections, even though W was appointed President after Al Gore won the election

[Fotios]

I keep hearing conservatives say that "America is a center-right leaning country" based on surveys where people are asked to identify themselves as being either liberal or conservative. However, I think over 60% of this country couldn't correctly define the word liberal without giving a sean hannity or carl rove definition, so the question is completely misleading. What they should do is give people the two definitions without giving them the words "liberal" or "conservative" and see how people identify.

liberal: Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.

conservative: Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.
Traditional or restrained in style

if people really understood what liberal means, they wouldn't be as scared of the word and this election would have been an even bigger landslide - because everyone wanted change and by definition, conservatives don't bring about change.

[HowietheScreamer]

It took the Atwater guys 15 years to make "Liberal" into an insult word. It won't be fixed over night.

[jinxed]

Ever notice how the Right ALWAYS demonizes their opponents and what they stand for? That is also what they did about intellectualism. That really worked out well, didn't it? The other thing I notice is how the Republicans label the Democrats as:
1. "tax and spend" (borrow and spend is better?),
2. BIG government (Reagan and both Bushes are the big expanders of government in the last 30 years, DUH), and
3. weak on security (9/11 happened on the Republican watch after they ignored warnings).
It seems the electorate has finally chosen to dump the "be afraid, be very afraid" mantra repeated over and over by the Republicans since the 9/11 attacks and finally found their courage and optimism. Hopefully the House and Senate will realize that and stand on the principles and ideas they were elected to carry out!

[gadfly55]

Hope or hold. Move or stay. Advance or dig in. Lay siege or bunker down. Will you stay or will you go? Nothing stays the same,or the more things change the more they stay the same. The group survival or the individual sacrifice. Freedom to choose, and the consequences of choice. You make your bed, and you lie down in it or pick up your bed and leave this place. Progress or repetition of cycles. Anything is possible, or you can't get there from here. Imagination or revelation. Who is average, who is exceptional? Disintegration or coherence, dynamic tension or stasis, organic growth or inorganic sterility. Open or closed, love or hate, care or apathy, light or dark. Truth or delusion, clarity or obscurity, radiance or entropy. Where is the centre in each person through their lifetime? Transcendence or immanence. The personal now and the global history. Your patch where you rest your head, and the Earth itself.

[georgiaR]

If you look at the electoral map by counties (even in blue states) it is still mostly red.

[Js420]

The mostly red areas are small towns who cling to religion & guns!! the U.S leans to the left & finally has the leadership in place to represent true Americans.­.LIBERALS!­!!

[Casbah]

JS420: Agreed. While the election night map sure did have a lot of red, people forget many of those states have lower populations than the states that trended blue like Florida, and reliable blue states like New York and California. The center has indeed moved more to the left, but watch out for those people clinging to their religion and guns!

[gadfly55]

As in the ground is red, but there are almost 67million people voting blue, more than 8million 500,00 more than voted for McCain. Look at CNN for a county by county analysis of voting, or the NYT and you will see the fact that the United States is now an urban population, and the overwhelming majority of urban populations voted blue. Big problem for rural white property owners influencing government policy.

[HowietheScreamer]

Gophers don't vote... wish the Repubes could grasp that little fact.

[ibsteve2u]

"They would have to be foolish to fall into this trap. So, it is likely that they will fall into this trap."

Ironic, how the things that should make you cry can make you laugh.

[That Guy]

truth

[thefringecenter]

Can anyone doubt that Pelosi and Reid are Center right?

[rbenjamin]

The notion of "center-right" seems fine grained (and silly) in a two party system. Compared to what? Enough to say that Dems are left of Reps, and Dems are in ascendancy. Fner description just relects differences within the parties, which tends to get flattened (when reps vote) by organizational discipline.

Center-right is a smug, self-comforting term that tellingly reflects both the mind set and marketing smarts set of the Republican Party. Center-right is, is intended to translate as "Republicans philosophy is both reasonable and closely reflecting majority opinion." Same word play tactics that gave us "The Death Tax" , Moral Majority and Silent Majority.

Reasonable is a matter of opinion, but the notion that Republican politics is somehow closer to the sweet center of American Values is delusional. Obama got 6% more of the total vote, and his party added 20 house and 6+ senate seats to their existing majority.

The most notable aspect of American Politics has been regional polarization. Obama beat McCain by a 15% margin in the Blue States, McCain beat Obama by about the same margin in the Red. Obama's Blue states contain roughly 3 X as many voters McCain's Red, so our electoral college system magnifies a relatively small 6% national polarization into a 30% regional difference by effectively axing the minority opinion within states. Proportional allocation of electoral votes anyone? The end result would have been the same (in this case) but the perception of fairness would greatly improve.