Now that Barack Obama has shocked the world by declaring his intention to run for a second term, the campaign strategies from both parties will be fully on display for the next year and a half. Unfortunately, I get the impression from both sides of the political aisle that they are not really interested in reaching out to the moderates. Don’t get me wrong – they’ll say that they are, but this seems to be purely lip service.
We live in a nation that is primarily made up of political moderates. A broad consensus can be reached on a wide variety of even controversial issues – but that is not how the political strategists of the parties believe you win elections. They believe you win elections by catering to your “base”, which often times lies on the outskirts of the political spectrum… and they may be right. Why? The base of the parties is made up of the people who are willing to take to the streets in grassroots efforts to mobilize other like-minded voters, to donate money to campaigns, and to generally be involved. They are so highly motivated because they believe the opposition truly is an evil that they could not possibly tolerate being in power.
On the other hand, I get the impression that most of the moderates I know are more concerned with living their day-to-day lives, not becoming politically active. They don’t live constantly in fear of an oppressive government coming to take their money, their jobs, or their freedoms. They do not feel an overt need to get involved. As a result of this, the campaigns will continue to gravitate towards the base.
The examples of this playing itself out are countless. Look no further than at the words spoken by the party members and the portrayal of policy initiatives and candidates through the various media outlets. When George W. Bush was president, he was painted by those on the far liberal left to be a fascist dictator bent on spreading a new world order and catering to corporate greed. He was a liar guilty of war crimes who was stripping Americans of their freedoms through the Patriot Act. Now that Barack Obama is president, many on the far conservative right portray him as a socialist dictator bent on spreading the wealth and subverting the Constitution. He is an illegitimate leader due to his foreign birth, and he wants the poor to wage metaphorical, if not literal, war on the rich.
The truth is that neither representation is even close to accurate. Both Bush and Obama were far more centrist than either side would allow you to believe. How else can you explain that the Tea Party has ripped Bush for not being a true Republican? How else could you explain that many on the left have already grown tired of Obama and have begun the push for Hillary Clinton to challenge him for the nomination? I have lived my entire adult life during their presidencies, and not once did I ever feel the supposed trampling of my freedoms and liberties that both sides claim have happened. How many of us have had our thoughts and opinions suppressed? Perhaps never before in world history have we been so free to express our opinion. Through blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, Americans now have more freedom of expression than ever before. There is no Sedition Act limiting the press or the public. No one I know (that is a moderate) lives in fear of being oppressed.
Sadly, that is not what will win the election. Motivating the base, even if takes spreading fear, is. There is a reason Rick Santorum was quoted as saying the current economic problems can be traced back to 1/3 of possible American babies are being aborted. Abortion is an issue that motivates the religious right, a bastion of votes for the Republican Party. There is a reason Bush was portrayed as a warmonger in 2004. The anti-war crowd was supposed to boost their efforts to get out the vote. How did Republicans counter the Kerry campaign? By, for example, putting a gay marriage ban on the ballot in the key swing state of Ohio. They knew that gay marriage was an issue that their base felt strongly about and that it would help rally the troops. We could go on – and I haven’t even mentioned Glenn Beck or Michael Moore yet! Convince senior citizens that their health care is going to be stripped from them or that they could face death panels. Convince the poor that the wealthy capitalists are waging class warfare on them. That is how you win elections.
This has served as a repellant to moderates – we get disgusted with politics and the system, and we stay home on Election Day. We refuse to get involved, and so we try to wash our hands of it. And it has also served to ruin any chance America has of progress through compromise – after all, how can one compromise with an opponent that has been vilified so thoroughly? You can’t make a deal with the devil.
It’s time for the moderates to realize what has been happening. It is time for the moderates to be the ones who control the policy and the elections in this country. This new Silent Majority needs to find a voice…
Where Was It 