MoveOn Has Lost It

Jul 11 2006 Published by under Congress, Politics

PoliticsIt’s becoming more and more apparent that MoveOn has lost their marbles. Some colleagues and I went to our new office space today for a tour, and on the way back, I saw an ad on the side of a bus attacking Heather Wilson.

The ad was paid for by MoveOn’s political wing. It featured a black and white image of Heather with one red hand, and included text indicating Heather was “caught red handed” (dear God, those folks are witty, huh?) accepting money from oil and gas interests.

Well, duh!

Oil and gas interests are one of, if not the largest, private industry in New Mexico. The government still ranks first, but oil and gas isn’t far behind. A lot of people in NM make a lot of money extracting oil and gas from the ground around the state. The proceeds from that extraction fund the schools in the form of a state controlled permanent fund. So it’s a small wonder that Heather sticks up for the industry.

Apparently MoveOn’s next major advertising effort will target Wisconsin’s Mark Green for supporting “big cheese”.

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More On Political Moderation

May 03 2006 Published by under Candidates, Congress, Democrats, Elections, Government, Politics, Republicans

PoliticsGovernmentThe NY Times has a good read on the continuing assault on moderates. It reinforces a post I made a couple of weeks ago about the problem with politics. The gist of the NYT article is the Democrats are specifically targeting moderate Republicans in states that traditionally vote blue, and attempting to portray otherwise independent members as radical conservatives.

In the battle for control of the House of Representatives, Democrats are concentrating their efforts on defeating a particularly resilient set of opponents, Northeast Republicans who have held their seats despite the region’s tendency to vote Democratic.

Independent analysts say there are at least a dozen competitive races in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Connecticut, many involving districts where voters have supported Democrats for president in recent elections while electing Republicans to Congress.

Now, with many polls showing President Bush’s support at its lowest level yet, Democrats in those districts are running heavily against the president, hoping to tie Republican incumbents to his agenda.

It really is unfortunate that we have come to this point with our political system. The partisan divide and the quest for power have both become so great that we will sacrifice any voice of reason and moderation in pursuit of control. If our founding fathers could see us, I am sure they would be appalled. If the FTC could investigate both parties for anti-competitive or predatory tactics, I am sure they would be handing out fistfuls of indictments.

What is truly appalling is the attitude of partisan hacks like Rahm Emanuel.

“The big question,” Mr. Emanuel said, “is whether the Congressional map in ’06 will align itself with presidential performance” in these districts.

That assumes that people make the presidential selection and their congressional selection based on the same criteria. I guess if you are a straight ticket voter who believes that the worst Republican is better than the best Democrat, that may be true. Most people, however, vote for President based on the person that can best lead our nation. They vote for their member of Congress based on who can best represent their local interests.

I vote Republican on the Presidential ballot because I believe (despite the current Administration) that Republicans believe in a smaller federal government, fiscal responsibility and limiting the intrusion of the fed into our private lives (like I said, the current administration notwithstanding).

For congress, I vote for the person that I feel will best serve my community. In the case of NM-01, where I still vote, that was Steve Schiff for the first 10 years of my voting experience and Heather Wilson since. Steve was, and Heather is, a moderate voice in Congress. They did not strictly adhere to party lines. That never bothered me, regardless of whether the guy in the White House was with us or against us.

People judge these offices by different criteria. We are damaged as a nation when people like Emanuel try to equate them. When that happens, you get the problem before us – the harassment of independent voices by those trying to enforce groupthink on the population. They say, “You’re a Democrat, you must vote Democrat all the time because Republicans are evil.” But that thinking leads only to extremism and ultimately totalitarianism.

In the work I do, I spend every day listening to Congress tell me that we need competition. They say competition in the delivery of video services will save the world. They say companies competing for customers benefits everyone.

That logic, however, is quickly abandoned when it comes to redistricting and political power. When it comes to politics, monopolies on power are good and to be chased at any cost. It’s a mentality I have come to hold in great contempt.

Rather than spend time contributing to the extremism of America. Both parties should spend more time trying to make every seat truly competitive. If competition is good for the market, the economy and the world, shouldn’t it be good for our nation, our political institutions, our laws, and our civic debates?

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Forget Kansas. What’s The Matter With Politics?

Apr 18 2006 Published by under Candidates, Democrats, Elections, Politics, Republicans

PoliticsPaul Nussbaum pens an article for the Philadelphia Inquirer titled Pragmatic Politics of Indiana. It might have been subtitled, “There’s Nothing Wrong With Kansas, What’s The Matter With Politics.”

The article details the failings of Democrats at trying to connect with mainstream voters in the heartland. It could just as easily have looked at the problems of our political system and how the real world views politics.

“You want to disavow labels and project centrist attitudes,” said former congressman Lee Hamilton, a Democrat who represented a southern Indiana district for 34 years, then served as vice chairman of the 9/11 commission. “Hoosiers pride themselves on being people of moderation and common sense.”

What plays well here: God, country, civility, and an economy of emotion and pocketbook. Hunting, fishing, and auto racing are almost as popular as basketball.

The same article could have been written about New Mexico – a state where Democrat Bill Richardson and Republican Pete Domenici both pull nearly 70% of the vote – though you might have to drop auto racing in favor of the red/green debate or cock fighting.

How do people of opposite parties pull staggering figures in the same state? The trick isn’t “projecting centrist attitudes”. It’s representing centrist beliefs.

That’s the trouble with our current system of electoral politics and congressional redistricting. We have marginalized the centrist voter and created a system evenly split between the radical left and the radical right with an ever-narrowing cluster of seats that are held by the best type of politicians (ones who vote based on the merits of a law, not their narrow-minded ideology).

Rep. Heather Wilson in New Mexico is a good example. Sadly, her district has never really warmed to her. Her predecessor, Steve Schiff, was my political hero. He was a true statesman and the district loved him. When he passed, Heather took his place in the district, but not in the eyes of the people.

That’s unfortunate, because Heather has actually been a good congresswoman in the Schiff tradition. She’s guided by GOP principles of responsible, limited government, but she’s also guided by what’s right for the district. She has been the President’s ally when he was right, and his critic when he was wrong.

The Democrats, however, will attempt to portray her as a rabid ideologue. They’ll attack her as a pawn of the Administration. Her biggest problem, however, is not one of ideology, it’s one of personality. She comes across as disconnected. She’s too removed from those she represents. As the Nussbaum article states:

People will never vote for you if they think you’re looking down your nose at them.

Heather, accurate or not, comes across that way to people.

The Democrats may well be successful at removing her from office this year. Unfortunately, if they do, they will replace her with a Democrat party hack that will fit the Pelosi mold more than the Schiff/Domenici tradition. Patsy Madrid has been running for office since New Mexico was a state. I think this is her 30th or 40th campaign. I’m 36 years old and my earliest memory as a human is Patsy running for office.

Replacing Heather with Patsy would be the equivalent of replacing Joe Lieberman with Tom DeLay. That, however, is the world we have created by allowing those who have power to determine how best to draw district lines.

When parties control redistricting, their goal is to make as many safe seats as possible. That creates an inherent political imbalance, however. If the seat is perfectly safe, and you do not have to fear voter backlash, your positions become extreme. Fighting over a declining number of seats in order to gain or keep power, political parties slander the real centrists and paint them as panting ideologues in order to win.

We have created a political system that no longer recognizes compromise and no longer represents the will of the people.

We have created a system where the true zealots are ignored, and the moderates are painted as radicals.

That’s the real story Nussbaum’s article tells, though he may not have known it. Though the article reads like a primer to teach liberal Democrats how to behave centrist in order to get elected, what he has really written is a eulogy for responsible centrist government.

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