WaPo Column: Why we need a third party of (radical) centrists (Haven't we heard this before?)

Washington Post ^ | 11/12/2010 | Matt Miller

[WebFocus]

SNIP

The truth is that once the economy's back on track, taxes are going to rise in the years ahead no matter which party is in power, because we're retiring the baby boomers. That means we'll double the number of people on Social Security and Medicare. We've already got trillions in unfunded promises in these programs. Even if we trim their growth, and cut other spending, which we need to do, the math doesn't work at current levels of taxation.

SNIP

So the idea that we can keep overall taxes where they are now, let alone cut them, is a Republican hoax.

SNIP

If you find this missing voice appealing - and can imagine it weighing in across the hundred issues where both parties are in cahoots today to deny reality - then you understand why we need a third political party.

I'm a Clinton White House alum who had hoped President Obama could usher in the debate we need. It's hardly all his fault that we're not there, but I'm convinced the parties' interest groups and "thought police" make real progress impossible without a new force that shakes things up. Democrats and Republicans care first and foremost about winning elections, a task that bears no necessary relationship to actually solving our major problems. Having our two-party duopoly control the terms of debate may have sufficed when America was the world's dominant economy, with little competition. But those days are gone.

SNIP

Anecdotal evidence: Speaking to 400 professionals of all stripes in California the other day, I asked who would be seriously interested in a third major political party. Fiscally conservative, socially liberal. Nearly every hand shot up.

Something's afoot and it's not just about the Tea Party. The radical center is ready to rise.

[central_va]

We already have one, it’s called the Republican Party.

[Paladin2]

"I'm a Clinton White House alum who had hoped President Obama could usher in the debate we need."

"Speaking to 400 professionals of all stripes in California the other day"

Not a firm foundation upon which to build anything.

[WayneS]

I think we don’t just need a “third party” to combat our current troubles.

We need to completely reject and abandon the current democrat and republican party structures and form brand new “major” political parties — at least three of them, but perhaps four or five.

[Just my opinion, of course]

[wild74]

Yes we need a third party alright as long as they are all out of the republican party where the vote will be split...lol

[t-dude]

We already have one, it’s called the Republican Party.

I opened this thread to write that! LOL!

[central_va]

I opened this thread to write that! LOL!

I thought I'd save everyone the trouble early on.

[SoFloFreeper]

I agree: perhaps 25%-30% of those who vote Democrat should turn 3rd party.

[mo]

yeah...an American Party...one that has read, is capable of understanding, and will enforce Constitutional government limits.

The prospect scares the hell out of the DC Rinocrat Oligarchs.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

RINOs! Here’s your chance! Go for it!

[Paladin2]

I think this guy is talking about the TEA Party, except run by ‘rats.

[DManA]

A radical centrist pretty much handed the governorship to Time Magazine’s worst Senator - Mark (dead eyes) Dayton.

[Lysandru]

Tax the rich? Really? How much more can we tax them before they take off to better places?

Radical Center? What a joke! "Centrists" like this putz will only bankrupt us in 20 years vice 5.

The only way to long term financial sanity is the Tea Party way.

[kcvl]

Matt Miller is a senior fellow at the *Center for American Progress; a contributing editor at Fortune; and popular week-in-review program.

*DC-based liberal think tank created and led by President and Chief Executive Officer John D. Podesta, the head of Barack Obama's presidential transition team after the 2008 election and former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton.

CAP is a lead organization in Health Care for America Now, HCAN.

American Progress is slated to operate with a $10 million budget next year, raised from big donors like the financier George Soros."

[Bigun]

American Progress is slated to operate with a $10 million budget next year, raised from big donors like the financier George Soros."

What else need one know to understand where THIS is headed?

[CarWashMan]

There is no such thing as a radical centrist. Anyone who claims to be centerist or moderate evetually turns left. I believe it was Michael Barone who stated that institutions that are not guided by a rightwing philosophy will eventually turn left i.e. Ford Foundation, AARP,etc.

[Paladin2]

"There is no such thing as a radical centrist."

Lou Dobbs would beg to differ.

[griswold3]

NO! No, third party that will help Obama be reelected! Ross Perot is the reason we had two terms of Clinton.

[ansel12]

Fiscally conservative, socially liberal.

That is the libertarian party, they are the "low-tax, liberals".

[fred42]

A third party would be OK.....
As long as we had instant runoff