Told You So!

I am by any definition a liberal Democratic activist. I hang out with other activists all the time, and we rarely argue about policy. At the same time I come out of the Southern moderate tradition. How is it possible to be both?

Simple. Democratic activists, and liberalism itself, really isn't that radical. Want evidence? Check out this post by Kevin Drum at the Washington Monthly. Liberalism in the Clinton era moved decisively to the center. Part of the reason is that, in response to the conservative political agenda, the left has had to close ranks. When the topic of political debate is whether to privatize Social Security, there's not much difference between a moderate and a lefty.

While I'm interested in theories into why the Republicans have gotten so radical, and why they have been able to win elections despite this radicalism, I am happy to be able to gloat a little. I've been arguing for a year on this blog now that a) liberalism is essentially moderate, and b) the media frame that both sides have moved to the extremes is flat wrong. Only the conservatives have gone around the bend. The left, on the other hand, has fully recovered its sanity. American politics today is a debate between a reactionary Republican party and a mildly center/left Democratic party.

P.S. I'm going on vacation this weekend. Dr. Hussy and I will be in upstate New York touring the wine country until Monday. See you when I've sobered up........