I used to be a 'centrist' Democrat
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There was a point in time when I believed I was what might be called a “centrist” Democrat. I was just getting interested in political concerns following the first two years of the Bill Clinton administration. He and the Democratic-controlled Congress hI used to be a 'centrist' Democrat
There was a point in time when I believed I was what might be called a “centrist” Democrat. I was just getting interested in political concerns following the first two years of the Bill Clinton administration. He and the Democratic-controlled Congress had managed to pass their first budget which, like George H. W. Bush before him, had been an attempt to try to correct the growing federal deficit by increasing the top marginal rate to 39 percent after it had been previously slashed under Reagan from 70 percent, to 50 percent, and then down to28 percent. It was a time when Democrats had implemented the first-ever assault weapons ban and the headlines were dominated by the deadly tragedies of the Waco Siege, the first World Trade Center attack, and the Oklahoma City Bombing. I believed that every idea had its own inherent merit and it should matter what the roots of the idea were, or which person or party had conceived it. What should matter was whether it was a good idea that was more likely to accomplish its goal with a minimum of negative side effects or collateral damage. I essentially agreed with Bill Clinton’s idea of centrism, or “third way” politics, where the ideas of both the left and the right were considered and where they could be implemented without regard to ideological purity or party perfection. Then came the Gingrich revolution, and he and the GOP swept into the House along with his “Contract with America.” I didn’t understand who these people were. I didn’t know why they were so massively angry, or why they seemed to be so mean, following Gingrich’s own philosophy of “going negative” and using certain words to paint the opposition as being “bizarre, cheats, corrupt, destructive, a disgrace, incompetent, insensitive, radical, selfish, shallow, sick, traitors.” It was clear that this new crop of Republicans wasn’t concerned with whether any particular idea was actually “good.” They were absolute ideological purists, crusaders, and warriors against the dangerous anti-gun, pro-tax liberal hordes. It was probably the last time that our government was even partially functional. Read more