WaPo - Is centrism dead?

[Algernon Moncrieff]

Karen Tumulty

In interviews conducted with voters in a dozen states, Third Way says it found little concern for income inequality, something Democrats talk about a lot.

Instead, it heard anxiety about what people sense is happening in their own lives — that good jobs are vanishing; that they don’t have the right skills for a digital, globalized economy; that prospects for their children will be worse.

The think tank has put forward its own set of proposals, to deal with what it calls a “crisis of opportunity.” Among them are replacing unemployment insurance with a program that would also fund job-skills development, and vouchers to help people move to places where there are job openings; a minimum wage that would vary by region; and eliminating all tax on the first $15,000 of earned income.

None of these is likely to generate much excitement on the left. Nor are they proposals you will hear much about during this campaign season, given that midterm elections tend to become referendums on the president’s performance.

[EndGOPPropaganda]

1. No. Democrats are centrists.

Ocasio-Cortez’s platform is slightly left in the rest of the world.


Dems ARE centrists.

[Cha]

7. NO Dems Are NOT "centrists"..

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[TheBlackAdder]

9. Pragmatism ONLY works when all sides are pragmatic. If one side is not, pragmatists lose every time

[EndGOPPropaganda]

10. Agreed of course

What I’m saying is that Republicans have gone off the deep end and Dems have remained where they were.
So by definition Dems are centrists.

As Mann and Ornstein put it: Dems have gone from their 40 to their 35, while Republicans went out the back of their own end zone.

Republicans want to paint Dems as extreme. There is only one extremist party in America: Republicans.

[dawg day]

2. ISn't that actually ABOUT income inequality?

Instead, it heard anxiety about what people sense is happening in their own lives — that good jobs are vanishing; that they don’t have the right skills for a digital, globalized economy; that prospects for their children will be worse.

Maybe it just means recasting the terminology, but it's about income, and it's about inequality.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

11. I'd agree - but some see shrinking middle class as an independent issue

Part of the "service economy" shift - there are endless employment opportunities, but they are in the $8-12/ hr range with limited benefits.

[oberliner]

3. This article does not actually appear to address that question in any meaningful way

Do you see anything in the article that attempts to answer that question?

[Algernon Moncrieff]

5. It seems to be a puff piece for the Third Way thinktank.

But I thought the content was interesting enough to post.

I have to say I don't see proposing to change out unemployment insurance for job training and relocation vouchers going over very well.

[shanny]

4. here's hoping

[Algernon Moncrieff]

6. Slate: Centrism is Dead

Link

Last week, moderate Democrats gathered for Opportunity 2020, an invite-only convention in Columbus, Ohio, hosted by the prominent centrist think tank Third Way. “Unlike a traditional conference, expect a stimulating mix of thought provoking presentations and interactive small-group sessions focused on the urgent need for the next generation of Democrats to offer a new social contract for the Digital Age,” the event’s webpage read.

NBC News’ account of the event suggests it wound up being little more than a group therapy session for Democrats fretting about the rise of an insurgent left energized by Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign and recent high-profile victories for candidates like democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who scored an upset win over Queens Democratic Party boss and incumbent congressman Joe Crowley in a Democratic primary last month. “Third Way unveiled the results of focus groups and polling that it says shows Americans are more receptive to an economic message built on ‘opportunity’ rather than the left’s message about inequality,” reported NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald. This was heartening stuff for moderates like Delaware’s former Gov. Jack Markell. “The only narrative that has been articulated in the Democratic Party over the past two years is the one from the left,” he lamented. “I think we need a debate within the party.”

That debate over the party’s direction is, of course, well underway, and the left has indeed dominated it. Six proposals to expand the government’s role in providing access to health care have been advanced by Democratic leaders and analysts in recent months. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for all bill, specifically, has been endorsed by 2020 candidates in waiting Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris. In April, Chuck Schumer announced that he would be introducing a bill to decriminalize marijuana, a move that followed Booker’s introduction last July of the Marijuana Justice Act, which would decriminalize marijuana and provide reparative measures for convicts and communities deeply impacted by the war on drugs. Late last summer, the Democratic Party released its “A Better Deal” policy platform, which called for, among other proposals, a $15 minimum wage and a reinvigoration of antitrust policy to tackle corporate concentration. In her memoir What Happened, Hillary Clinton wrote that she had considered proposing during her campaign a universal basic income program—a welfare measure that would provide cash payments to every American.

[Yavin4]

8. Centrism has failed large segments of the American people.

These "think tankers" have no idea of what life is like outside of their bubble world where everyone goes to elite universities and never has to worry about money, health care, transportation, rent, etc.