What Happened to all the Political Moderates?

[justfollowingtheelections]

Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson.

When and why have these kinds of people, which America now desperately needs, gone away? Why can't we take a rational, pragmatic approach to our problems anymore?

They haven't gone away. Today's Democratic Party is the home of all reasonable moderates, whereas the Republican Party has become the anti-anyone but upper class, anti-non-white, anti-progress and anti-science party. Oh, and anti-facts in general.

Unfortunately, though , given the vast power that even a strongly defeated minority has in the U.S., nothing can be done if one of the two parties has gone off the deep end.

This.

A better question would be: What happened to the Political Left?

There hasn't been a political left in the US since before WWII

Somebody better tell Henry Wallace's Progressive Party, the New Left, and the Naderite movement that, then.

I don't remember any of those ever getting close to becoming mainstream in US politics.

[Marnetmar]

Once again guys, my point is that both both sides have been shifting further and further away from the center, not about the moderates themselves.

[Blackacre]

Once again guys, my point is that both both sides have been shifting further and further away from the center, not about the moderates themselves.

Except you're wrong. The Democrats have been shifting closer to the center with the (global scale) centrists being Democrats. The Republicans flung to the right.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Once again guys, my point is that both both sides have been shifting further and further away from the center, not about the moderates themselves.

Except you're wrong. The Democrats have been shifting closer to the center with the (global scale) centrists being Democrats. The Republicans flung to the right.

It doesn't matter for American politics where the Inks the global center is, but where the American center is.

[Marnetmar]

After doing my homework I've concluded that Johnson couldn't really be considered a -moderate-, which I apologize for.

Relevant:



I would suppose that the American center in comparison to the rest of the world would be about where I placed Gerald Ford, and the entire American spectrum would probably be a 16th of the size of this political compass to account for the wide range of political thought outside of the U.S. Obviously, assuming you're somewhat sane, Franklin D. Roosevelt definitely wasn't a communist.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

They are called Democrats. Actually that is what they are almost by definition.

What I miss are the Old left and the real hippies. That seems slightly contradictory given the relationship between the two, but not really.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

They are called Democrats. Actually that is what they are almost by definition.

What I miss are the Old left and the real hippies. That seems slightly contradictory given the relationship between the two, but not really.

Perhaps you could use the word 'dialectic', lol.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

They are called Democrats. Actually that is what they are almost by definition.

What I miss are the Old left and the real hippies. That seems slightly contradictory given the relationship between the two, but not really.

Perhaps you could use the word 'dialectic', lol.

I'm disappointed in myself for not taking the opportunity...

[Antonio the Sixth]

What happened to political moderates? They make up roughly half of the Democratic Party.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

After doing my homework I've concluded that Johnson couldn't really be considered a -moderate-, which I apologize for.

Relevant:



I would suppose that the American center in comparison to the rest of the world would be about where I placed Gerald Ford, and the entire American spectrum would probably be a 16th of the size of this political compass to account for the wide range of political thought outside of the U.S. Obviously, assuming you're somewhat sane, Franklin D. Roosevelt definitely wasn't a communist.

That chart is really inaccurate. I don't know even where to begin, except to say that the entire authoritarian/libertarian scale there doesn't make any sense. Also, Reagan being to the left of GHWB, while Nixon is so far to the right of Clinton?

[Marnetmar]

For presidents JFK-Bush, I used their votematch scores on ontheissues.org and put them on the corresponding plot on the political compass to make it easier to read. For others, I researched their positions on the issues stated on the votematch quiz and answered accordingly. However, anything  before Eisenhower is probably extremely inaccurate since many issues that concern us today weren't even considered back then, so I looked for stances on similar/related issues back then and answered the questions accordingly.

[voide]

After doing my homework I've concluded that Johnson couldn't really be considered a -moderate-, which I apologize for.

Relevant:

I would suppose that the American center in comparison to the rest of the world would be about where I placed Gerald Ford, and the entire American spectrum would probably be a 16th of the size of this political compass to account for the wide range of political thought outside of the U.S. Obviously, assuming you're somewhat sane, Franklin D. Roosevelt definitely wasn't a communist.

what is this, this contrasts every other political compass chart of relevant American political figures. You need to reevaluate this but i really love the effort

[angus]

After doing my homework I've concluded that Johnson couldn't really be considered a moderate...

Johnson is definitely not a moderate.  

This is why I have often complained that there ought to be three, not just two, metrics on those political quiz websites.  They have done a pretty good job separating the Left/Right aspect from the Anarchy/Authority aspect, so that you can compare how far left or right a person's politics lie--and Johnson was very far left--but there really should be a foreign policy metric as well.

On a Hardball interview about 15 years ago, Chris Matthews was interviewing Al Sharpton, and he asked Sharpton who his favorite president is.  Sharpton replied, "Johnson.  Well, except for the Vietnam War, I would have to say Johnson."  It's hard to think of Johnson and only think of the Great Society.  We also think of the war.  

If you could separate into three spheres of thought, domestic economic policy, cultural norms, and foreign policy, then you could better analyze the question.  You could say, who is the farthest left or who is the farthest right without letting either the cultural aspect or foreign policy come into it.  Of course, there are those who will argue that foreign policy is affected by, and affects, one's socioeconomic policy agenda, but too many assumptions have to be made to make that fit neatly into the algorithm.  Is the war a result of the desire to keep the sea lanes open for free trade?  Is power projection a means of protecting one's investment or is it the result of a desire to keep the citizens safe?  Do sanctions result from a humane desire or do the result from a punitive desire?  Did the president get good advice before committing troops?  We would need to know the answers to these questions and more if we were to capture foreign policy within either of the other two categories.  By creating a separate category, such questions need not be answered.  Indeed, they could be avoided altogether since domestic economic policy would stand alone separate from the rest.

(For example "Are you a globalization junkie?" is a question that could stand alone.  Globalization can be motivated from the left or from the right.  It can stem from a desire to ensure an even playing field, or it can stem from a desire to benefit US corporations.  We do not need to probe further in this question which is the case because foreign policy is separated, the Left/Right questions can probe those important distinctions with other questions in another part of the test.)


Anyway, what happened to the moderates?  They lost in primary elections.  Because of the system that has existed for nearly 50 years, it is difficult for moderates to win intraparty contests.  Primary contests used to be decided by a process that was cynically referred to as secretive meetings in smoke-filled rooms.  Those secretive meetings in smoke-filled produced contests between Nixon and Kennedy, between Dewey and Truman, etc.  You wouldn't have a candidate such as GW Bush emerging.  They would look at his resume and note that his greatest accomplishment was selling Alex Rodriguez for 25 million dollars.  Not really presidential qualifications.

[Santander]

Jesus...

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

...Eisenhower to the left of Carter? Reagan to the left of both Bushes? Nixon to the left of and more libertarian than Ford?!

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

...Eisenhower to the left of Carter? Reagan to the left of both Bushes? Nixon to the left of and more libertarian than Ford?!

Nixon did the EPA!! Even a moderate like Trump didn't stay in Paris

[Goldwater]

...Eisenhower to the left of Carter? Reagan to the left of both Bushes? Nixon to the left of and more libertarian than Ford?!

I mean, once you realize that Rutherford B. Hays is the exact center of the political spectrum, it all makes sense.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Did someone seriously just unironically cite a Political Compass chart?

LMAO

[Goldwater]

Did someone seriously just unironically cite a Political Compass chart?

LMAO

If by "just" you mean 4 and half years ago, then yeah.

[Kingpoleon]

Did someone seriously just unironically cite a Political Compass chart?

LMAO

If by "just" you mean 4 and half years ago, then yeah.

You're on fire with the great posts, Goldwater.

[OSR stands with Israel]

...Eisenhower to the left of Carter? Reagan to the left of both Bushes? Nixon to the left of and more libertarian than Ford?!

yah it doesnt make any sense , though W Bush was to the right of Reagan if you look at policy and not just personal beliefs.

[darklordoftech]

William F. Buckley, Barry Goldwater, Reagan, and Gingrich happened.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

They're in the garbage bin of history.

[Kingpoleon]

They're in the garbage bin of history.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Did someone seriously just unironically cite a Political Compass chart?

LMAO

If by "just" you mean 4 and half years ago, then yeah.

Well the PC charts were just as much nonsense back then too.