Moderate Democrats Almost Extinct?

Conservatives and liberals, libertarians and progressives, I have bad news for you- most of the American people are moderates and independent voters and want a candidate who is moderate and independent. Oh, I know you guys all want a purist, someone who is ideologically consistent and always agrees with your every viewpoint- but the truth of the matter is that the American people elect the party that they feel is the most moderate. Of course, this is all subjective, as the American people might view a party as 'moderate' when in reality it is very extreme, but at a certain point in politics perception becomes reality, and so it is important to be perceived as voters as being a moderate and independent party.

And the Democrats of today are not moderates or independent. Via RealClearPolitics comes this article called Moderate House Dems a Vanishing Breed:

Two issues plague Democrats when it comes to congressmen representing swing districts: The moderates don’t get heard in Washington, and centrist districts are rapidly becoming extinct because of the way congressional lines are being drawn....

....Not all of Main Street is on one side or the other, said former congresswoman Kathy Dalhkemper, a Democrat who represented northwestern Pennsylvania until being defeated last year in the wave of moderate-Democrat losses to Republicans. “The Democratic Party is not really the ‘big tent’ it claims to be,” she said of the small space available to represent centrist districts.

Dalhkemper thinks most Americans are pretty centrist: “More people are swing voters than we realize. Take myself, for example. I don't believe in everything that every Democrat stands for, and I am proud to say that I have voted for Republicans in the past.”...

...More than 50 moderate Democrats were in Congress before the 2010 midterm elections. That number is circling the drain at 22, with more disappearing each day.

Rep. Dennis Cardoza of California, one of the fiscally conservative “blue dog” Democrats, announced his intention to retire last week, citing a lack of politicians in the middle as one of his reasons. He joins 12 other centrists who have said they would retire or seek another office. Fellow blue dogs Mike Ross of Arkansas and Dan Boren of Oklahoma have said they won't be coming back when their terms expire in January 2013.

A moderate Democrat such as Boren represents a district with a large number of white working-class, often Catholic traditional Democrats who outnumber registered Republicans by a wide margin, explained Eldon Eisenach, a Tulsa University political theorist.

...A moderate Democrat is almost always against stringent gun control, is personally against abortion, is skeptical about extending affirmative action beyond anti-discrimination, supports a fairly aggressive foreign policy, wears patriotism on their sleeves, and actually sees periodic conflicts between regulation and job-creation....

....David Wasserman, House analyst for the Cook Political Report, points to this statistic: “There are six conservative Southern Democratic House members remaining. After 2012, it’s possible none of them, who are threatened by redistricting, will be in office.”

And the 19 Democrats who voted against Nancy Pelosi for the House Minority Leader position have very little incentive to stay; they’re a minority within a minority in the House, not to mention members of a minority party in their districts. “So they’re triply marginalized,” said Wasserman.

The moderate Democrat is a disappearing breed, which is a problem for Democrats overall – because, in any given election year, those moderates could be the difference between being in the majority or the minority party.

The Republicans might have have a lot of pressure from the tea party and the media might accuse them of being extreme right-wingers- but their Presidential nominee is likely going to be a moderate like Mitt Romney, their previous Presidential nominee was a liberal John McCain, many Senators and Congressman are pretty moderate, and here in Michigan our Governor is a moderate GOP. That might make many of the Tea Party crowd unhappy and drive conservatives to anger, but by being perceived as less extreme has led the GOP to winning large amounts of political power in our nation, where the Tea Party and conservatives in the party can then push their agenda from a position of strength rather than a position of weakness.

If Democrats had nominated Hillary Clinton in 2008 or the so-called 'Blue Dog' Democrats had had influence or not been wiped out in 2010, then maybe they could have claimed to be the party of moderation and independence- sadly, none of that is true, demonstrating that the Democratic Party of today is a party of extreme left-wing views that has been hijacked by progressives and liberals, and should only represent the citizens of our nation in a few random districts in Congress.

It isn't your parent's Democratic Party any more- for the full reality, read Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America.