Does This Describe You?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Blogging, General PoliticsFrom Andrew Sullivan’s mailbag…
Looking forward to the new site. I stumbled across your site, I believe as a link from Josh Marshall’s in the winter of 2001, and the two of you have provided me with much sanity and enjoyment during the last four-odd years.What’s impressed me with your blog and writings is how your personal politics and your own definition of “conservative” have largely stayed the same, despite the right-ward drift of our body politic and Washington leadership and the resultant bastardization of what “conservative” means, or at least, used to mean.
I’ve always voted for Democrats, but like you, I’ve grown distrustful of the current direction of the party. I’ll never be a Republican (the religious fundamentalists are anathema to me), but as your blog continually asks, I wonder/hope if there can’t be a third way in American politics? Not a Bill Clinton “Third Way,” but a true, grass roots, independent third party that combines some of the old-school conservatism of what used to be the GOP (fiscal sanity, foreign policy realism etc.) with the best of the Democratic party (inclusiveness, domestic competence, worker’s rights etc.). Or more simply: Fiscally conservative, socially liberal.
My apologies to Andrew for reprinting the whole letter, but I think there’s certainly room for this third way in the body politic and so I felt the need to include it all.
And just in case you don’t know where Sullivan stands politically, here you go.
To the right, I’ve drifted “left” because I want a competent war. To the left, I’m self-deluded because I object to Kennedy’s low blows. The space for any thought between these two polar partisanships is getting harder and harder to find. And for the umpteenth time, I belong to no political party, have endorsed candidates from both over the years, and count myself a limited government conservative. I am not now and never have been a member of the Republican party.
And yes Donklephant readers, I’m looking for a show of hands here. Do either of these positions describe you? How about your friends and family?
This entry was posted on Sunday, January 15th, 2006 and is filed under Blogging, General Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 15th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
I think those positions describe pretty much everyone, unless you are suggesting you can find people opposed to fiscal sanity, foreign policy realism, inclusiveness, domestic competence, worker’s rights etc.
The issue is we don’t agree on what those things mean and how to achieve them. As a result, what you have is a very nice sounding non statement, non position.
January 15th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Sure I can find people like that, but not in the “prove the negative” way you’re asking me to. And by the way, that’s NOT what I was asking.
To that point, certain things come along with being “fiscally conservative”. Fiscally sane is a WHOLE different ball of wax, and has to do with what role you think the government has in our social welfare. Just look at England and Canada for evidence of how some view the government’s social contract with the people.
I’ve gotta say, I’m a bit dismayed by your complete dismissal of my question. Oh well.
January 15th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
I think I stand for those things, and I think you feel the same way. As a result you and I will answer the question the same way and it will appear we are in agreement, when in reality, the only things we agree on is that we are fed up with the hardcore right and left.
January 16th, 2006 at 2:13 am
Yes I too am eager for another way another party. The American Centrist Party seems to be the right party. But with 08 coming and the need to clean out Washington, the need to elect a Democrat to the White House is all the more clearer.
Not just any Democrat but the right Democrat. We can support a third party while also supporting one of the major parties. It is the third parties that raise subjects and trigger reform with the major parties.
I will support a third party namely the ACP to grow to get strong enough to act as a check and balance on the other big two, but also supporting reform within the Democratic Party.