New Democrat Update - February 2000
FINDING THE “VITAL CENTER”
The national DLC has just released a new survey entitled The Decisive Center: Keys to Victory in 2000. This state-of-the-art analysis, conducted by presidential pollster Mark Penn, concludes that a growing group of moderates in both parties, along with many independents, are attracted to the distinctive New Democrat message of economic opportunity, social tolerance, and limited but activist government.
The vital center is dominated by voters who favor a bold agenda of non-bureaucratic but progressive government. These voters believe “government should reinforce mainstream values and provide parents with the tools they need to reinforce their personal values, but that it should be tolerant of diversity and not try to impose a particular moral code on people.” They also have little patience with the gap between their mainstream views and the partisan passions of ideological activists and interest-group representatives in both parties.
Based on the first month of the legislative session, such a disconnect may be growing between the public's sentiments and the Colorado legislature's priorities - a few examples:
Despite broad public support, many of the gun-safety measures proposed by Governor Owens and Attorney General Salazar are in real danger of being killed. While that struggle continues, the House moved in the opposite direction, passing a measure that undermines the efforts of local government to fight gun violence and prohibit concealed weapons in schools.In poll after poll, the public has very been very clear about its distaste for sprawl. State Rep. Tom Plant's “Livable Communities” initiative would have given Colorado's local governments the tools and incentives (not mandates) they need to manage growth and shape their destinies. Along with other similar ideas, this middle-ground proposal died an early death in committee. Coloradans’ want their public institutions - especially schools - to promote sound values. The right is cynically twisting this desire into requiring the posting of the Ten Commandants in school classrooms and main entryways. At the same time, a centrist, real solution, promoting the integration of broadly-shared qualities like civility, individual responsibility and honesty into curriculums, is defeated.There are strong forces on both sides of the aisle who view governing as little more than the continuation of partisan warfare by other means. For these warriors, reaching agreement with the other side defeats the whole purpose, which is to sharpen partisan differences instead of overcoming them.
Despite evidence to the contrary, those on the extreme left and right believe that polarizing the debate mobilizes their bases and wins elections for their side. The loser in this equation, of course, is the public, whose natural interest in a functioning state government is held hostage to the next election cycle.
State Democrats and Republicans can learn an important lesson from the last year's impeachment ordeal. President Clinton prevailed because the American people liked the job he was doing and appreciated the real-life results - balancing the budget, welfare reform, trade expansion, and anticrime measures that required cooperation with at least some Republicans.
Centrists in both parties must realize that affecting real lives in a positive way requires cooperation with the opposition when you do not have the power to do it on your own. If that means sharing the credit and making at least some of your opponents appear less than demonic, so be it.
In the end, good government is the best politics.