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Reality hits StarTribune columnist: there is absolutely no room for moderates in the two big parties
by Peter Tharaldson
That's it folks, it is now official. There is no room for moderates in either of the big two parties. If Arne Carlson's rebuke by the conservative Republicans wasn't enough, we then got DFL State Senator Matt Entenza's targeting of State Representative Jim Rhodes with PAC money (which the conservatives were happy about). Today, Senator Evan Bayh left politics because he did not think he had any ability to get things done as a centrist in a partisan-ridden town.
We wish StarTribune columnist Lori Sturdevant would get it. The big two parties use moderates for swings and then chuck them by the wayside, even destroy them when they no longer mean anything. While she likes some of our beliefs, she is contemptuous of our existing. Ironically she has no idea what she is pushing for: the wholesale disenfranchisement of middle America. 45% of Dean Barkley's voters would not have voted if not for him running...what would you say to them?
How long can the list grow of centrists destroyed while Lori cheers them on? Evan Bayh, Arne Carlson (he fought back), Jim Rhodes, Lynn Osterman, Paul Tsongas, Kelly Doran, Gerald Ford, the 76 version of Jimmy Carter, John Anderson....it is a million miles long. Truth is the conservatives are now targeting moderate Democrats and the liberals frankly don't mind. A few years a go it was the moderate Repulicans.
The centrists and reformers in government are hated, except for when they make a good marketing ploy during an election. This sad fact is true. One day they will have to be hired to clean up the mess the good old ideologues have made...it always works that way.
Lori, many of us came from one of the two big parties. We fought for our candidates and were spit upon like second-rate citizens. No thanks! We refuse to sit on the sidelines but will instead will advocate for stewardship. To sit back would require us to judge how good a citizen we can be....and that is offensive not by being said but by being reality.
Are you ready to give up on reformers in the two big parties yet?
