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July 26, 2004 I was watching C-span2 book tv. Yeah that's how exciting I am, that I actually watch that from time to time on the weekends. Anyway David Brooks was on talking about his book. I believe it was called "On Paradise Drive" but that's not the point. The point is that he was talking about how all the candidates are liberals and conservatives, and almost no moderates. He's right of course. We have a Boston liberal versus a Texas conservative. But just because he is right about the lack of moderates doesn't mean that I think that it is a bad thing. Most americans say that they want our politicians to compromise more. OK fine. But they need to think about that.They really don't want compromise, what they want is for the other side to agree with them. A good compromise leaves everyone mad. Both sides think that they gave away too much. Democrats want to win and call it compromise, and republicans want the same. The bigger problem is that many think that being middle of the road is somehow intellectually and morally superior to being on the left and on the right. But remember the great compromises? They solved nothing. The compromise of 1850 didn't solve the problem of slavery and it did not prevent a civil war. Our political system thrives on conflict, always has. So what's so great about a compromise? All you get is a watered down version of what you should have or half of what we shouldn't have. Imagine a government with all moderates. Would all of our polarization and conflict simply dissapear? Heck we can't even decide what a moderate means. We basically have three kinds of moderates. Type 1 is the chinese menu moderate. They take issues from both sides. Pro-life, but against tax cuts. Type 2 is the moderate liberal or moderate conservative. In favor of a tax cut but they cut it in half, think George Voinovich (R-OH). Type 3 is the rhetorical moderate. They are liberals lauded as moderates because they aren't as shrill as the left. Think Rep. Ford (D-TN). Forget compromise. I would like a government of people who don't waffle, and actually stand for something. So the moderates can keep their compromises. I'll take a government of conservatives any day. ------------ Email Craig Chamberlain: craig_chamberlain@hotmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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