I heard a phrase the other day in the analysis of the Democratic Debate. A commentator was speaking about the appeal of Amy Klobuchar, saying that she and Pete Buttigieg appealed to \u201cthe center\u201d of the Democratic Party. The two were called \u201cPragmatic Moderate Midwestern Democrats;\u201d drawing more political lines in the sand. It definitely isn\u2019t a good bumper sticker slogan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I live in Pataskala, Ohio, twenty miles east of downtown Columbus. The town is located in Licking County, with the county seat in Newark, fifteen miles to the east. Columbus is in Franklin County, where in 2016, Hillary Clinton got 60.6% of the vote. Here in Licking, Donald Trump got 62%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So where I live, what in my college sociology class was called the \u201cexurbs,\u201d is still pretty much \u201cTrump Country\u201d. Our blue flag with the words \u201cLiterally Anyone Else for 2020\u201d emblazoned on it, is waving in a very lonely cold breeze in front of our house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess that makes me a Midwestern Democratic. I also considered myself a \u201cliberal\u201d in the old school sense. Liberals were my role models in the Democratic Party, folks like Hubert Humphrey and Bobby Kennedy from when I was first got involved in politics. And today I still look at new-speak \u201cProgressives\u201d as liberal; Senator Sherrod Brown comes quickly to mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So as I look at the Presidential Campaign for 2020, I\u2019m trying to figure out where my \u201cliberalism\u201d fits into the current crop of candidates. I\u2019ve never been at the Social-Democrat extreme of the Party with Bernie Sanders, nor was I comfortable with Bill Clinton\u2019s Republican-Lite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lets look at health care. In my heart, it makes sense to me that America should move to a single-payer health system, controlled by the government. Medicare, with all of its flaws, serves 44 million Americans today. Most are pretty happy with their benefits, so much so that when the Paul Ryan Republicans tried to \u201cprivatize\u201d that care, it turned out to be a political non-starter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it doesn\u2019t seem a huge leap to me to simply \u201cgrow\u201d the program into Medicare \u201cfor everyone\u201d. So that\u2019s \u201cliberal\u201d, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there\u2019s a real electoral problem with that, and it\u2019s about what used to be the Democratic base. Labor Unions were Democratic, and they used to represent over a third of America workers. Today, it\u2019s closer to ten percent. But those workers have given up wages and hours to get good benefits, particularly good health insurance. They aren\u2019t willing to give up that insurance easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s where the \u201cpragmatic\u201d part comes in. If \u201cMedicare for all\u201d means losing the election, then the \u201cideal\u201d needs to be moderated to fit what the electorate will accept. I don\u2019t view that as a \u201csellout;\u201d but more a recognition that change requires leadership willing to convince, cajole, and coordinate, rather than march alone in the front. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Healthcare is easier to reconcile with today\u2019s electoral reality. Climate change is different. The immediacy of this crisis, and the \u201cclock and the calendar\u201d (thanks Doug Collins) of a global tipping point makes it impossible to find a \u201cmoderate\u201d stand. Change is going to come, we either have to take control of that change, or we, and more importantly our progeny, will face the consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again though, that requires leadership, not just prophecy. It requires education, even educating those folks who don\u2019t want to hear that coal and gas are causing the problem. And that\u2019s what a leader needs to do. I guess that\u2019s pragmatic too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there\u2019s the issue of illegal immigration and immigrants. There can be no waffling on what\u2019s going on at our Southern border. We are putting people into nothing less than concentration camps, we are still separating children from their parents, and we are creating a crisis of poverty and violence on the Mexican side. All of that needs to stop and it needs to stop now. The atrocities (yes, that\u2019s the correct word too) have to be redressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that doesn\u2019t solve the long-term problem of what to do with folks coming to the border. And Democrats aren\u2019t answering that question. The answer will take a serious financial commitment to Central America, and changes in American attitudes. We need to view those immigrants as refugees, not invaders. Again, that\u2019s the job of a leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s hardly even being discussed in the Debates these days. Like everything else in our world, it\u2019s being overwhelmed by Impeachment and Elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have never seen myself as \u201cmoderate\u201d. Bill Clinton, in my view, was a moderate, and I didn\u2019t agree with a lot of what he did. But in today\u2019s spectrum, it seems there isn\u2019t much to the \u201cright\u201d of Biden, Klobuchar or Buttigieg. Maybe Mike Bloomberg but we haven\u2019t really gotten much more than \u201cI can beat Trump\u201d from his millions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So on the current chart maybe my Liberalism is moderate. And I definitely am pragmatic, if pragmatic means defeating Trump in 2020. Maybe the commentator was talking about me \u2013 a \u201cPragmatic Moderate Midwestern Democrat\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Better get a bigger bumper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"