I'm back: On Rallies, Sanities, and the Center

Complaints are sometimes a pretty good tell for what’s actually going on. A lot of self-proclaimed centrists don’t like Jon Stewart’s rally because it co-opts the center, laughs at Important Things, or isn’t liberal enough. It’s pretty tidy when your critics makes the point for you.

The actual center of American political opinion is a pretty good fit for Stewart’s political beliefs. It’s also a pretty good fit for the leftish side of the Democratic Party. A random American chosen off the street is likely to believe that we should do something serious about global warming, that abortion should be legal (though pretty regulated), that single-payer sounds like a pretty good idea, that it’s time to give up on Afghanistan, that it’s high time for gays in the military and civil unions, that the Bush tax cuts for the rich should go, and that you should be able to get pot with a prescription. The left doesn’t win either the public or Stewart on every issue, but it’s a win on almost all of the big ones. On most of them it’s not even very close.

The idea, coming from liberals, that the “center” should be defined by whatever David Broder thinks rather than what a big majority of the voters actually want, is just masochism. Coming from the David Broders, it’s just an attempt to control debate.
The country, and Stewart, both have some negative beliefs about the left as people, of course. They think our politicians are kind of nutty, kind of incompetent, and frequently full of bullshit. Most of us on the left are inclined to be a bit more forgiving, and to declare that the guilty parties are not real leftists, but it’s hard to deny the public kind of has a point. They would also like a bunch of good things to be accomplished without paying taxes, and for Republicans to cooperate with Democrats to provide universal healthcare and save the environment. I would also like these things. In addition, if polled, I will note that I want my freezer to be magically full of zero-calorie gelato at all times and for the bank to routinely make errors in my favor.

Stewart and most of the public think the likes of Christine O’Donnell are ridiculous and should be laughed at. I don’t really understand anyone who disagrees with that. I think that in addition to being laughed at, she should be soundly beaten in the election; I’m pretty sure everyone else laughing does too. It is possible for something to be a joke but not only a joke.

And one more thing: the Tea Party is nuts. When nutcases try to take over your country, having people of pretty diverse non-nutty opinion band together to reject them back is a good thing. The message is very clear: I may think that Medicare for all is the only logical solution, and you may think that a carefully designed and regulated private insurance market will yield better results. But we both think we can talk to each other, and that the guy over there who thinks we’re both trying to kill Grandma rates no place at the table. If you don’t think that millions of people coming together behind those beliefs is a positive development, I don’t know what you’re doing – but it’s not politics, and it’s not helping.