Looking for the American political center -- let's make a deal

Hello?  American political center people, are you there?  Who are you?  What are you like?  What does it mean to be in the "center?"  Does the "center" matter any more?  Was it ever important?

We live in the so-called "digital age," so we tend to think digital thoughts.  In so doing, we want to identify the characteristics of our world with precision.  Using the term "center" drives us in the direction of numerical or mathematical analysis, so we want the center to be identified as some sort of average, or a median, or somewhere on a bell curve.

That's not going to work.  In politics, the center--whatever it is--cannot be identified with precision.  This is true, too, for every place else on the political spectrum, whether to the left of center or to the right.

American politics over the last few years--and especially in this year--has been so filled with strident vociferations of "most conservative" or "most fiscally responsible"--the implication being that the political characterization in question can be precisely measured so that the virtue of having a rock-solid belief is established beyond a reasonable doubt--that we have yielded our politics and our government to the demands of those who would measure multi-dimensional human activities with uni-dimensional yard-sticks (or meter-sticks if you are thinking metrically).

Enough of that.  It's a waste of time, and with all the generated hot air it is proof-positive of the human contribution to global warming.

For a few moments here, consider this concept:  where you are on the political spectrum is as much a result of what you do as it is of what you believe.  Likewise, this is true--in fact, it's critically-true--for all candidates seeking election.

Maybe you're a Republican, and you think you are in the center.  (Not likely--based on all the hullabaloo in the Republican presidential contest about which candidate is the "most conservative"--but anything is possible.)  Maybe you are a Democrat, and position yourself in the political center.  (Speaking for myself, I feel that I am somewhere close to the center, even if probably a little to the left of center.  More on that later.)  Maybe you are an "independent," and feel that you are in the center, or perhaps not.

The other day I asked some friends to help me define the political center, but we couldn't come up with a clear and unambiguous answer.

There's a lot more to the political spectrum than just the labels that are so often used, labels like "liberal," "conservative," "left," "right," "center."  Pew Research has a fascinating survey of the American population that attempts to place people according to "key beliefs" in any one of nine different "political typologies."  The survey is almost a year old--it was published in May of last year--but having gone through it, my feeling is that it is still relevant today.  It's pretty complex, but worth a look.

The shortcoming of the survey, though, is that there's more to politics and successful government than "beliefs."  Good politics and successful government also requires the ability and the proclivity to make a deal.

Does reading that make anybody feel slightly unclean?  If so, that's too bad, because "doing a deal" is the only way that good governance has ever been achieved in a democratic society.  Having beliefs is part of the deal-making, but intractably sticking to beliefs does not contribute to deal-making, and it is not a source of good governance.  Accept it, get used to it, and keep it in mind as you vote.

Consider these notable figures from the American political landscape of the second half of the Twentieth Century:  Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Tip O'Neill, Everett Dirksen, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton.  All of them--and others, too--have these things in common:  they made things happen in government; they occupied some part of the "political center;" they had key beliefs; and they knew how to make deals happen with people around them, even those people who did not necessarily have the same key beliefs.

You'll never catch me supporting or voting for a candidate whose self-description is "most conservative;" you have probably already figured that out.  But you'll also never see me supporting a candidate who claims to be "most liberal."  Neither extreme makes any sense in government, because taking a position like that implies that there's not much interest in making a deal, nor much ability to do a deal.  That leads to a non-functioning, or maybe a dysfunctional, government.

Take a look now at the way Americans position themselves on issues and beliefs; go to the Pew Research survey.

The survey includes a quiz that can be used to place a person somewhere along the political typology, as defined by Pew Research.  Take it; it only needs a couple of minutes.  If you are politically-engaged, or at least politically-aware--one of which is probably the case if you are reading this--then you will find it to be amusing, or entertaining, or informative, or enlightening, or some combination of all of those things.

I took the quiz.  I waffled on selecting answers to three or four of the questions, but in each case ended up with a choice that was in the general vicinity of what I would have preferred to answer.  The results identify me as a "solid liberal."  If I had guessed first on where I would land, that would not have been my guess.  (Perhaps you would have placed me there even without the quiz.)  But, there I am, and I'm proud of it!

In any case, the survey makes no allowance for the importance of deal-making.  If it did, then I think my identification would have to be "solid liberal with centrist tendencies who likes making deals with the other side."  That's a long label, but much more accurate.

According to Pew, "solid liberals" have these beliefs:

• Strongly pro-government and very liberal on a broad range of issues
• Very supportive of regulation, environmental protection and government assistance to the poor
• One of the most secular groups; 59% say that religion is not that important to them
• Supportive of the country's growing racial and ethnic diversity
• Two-thirds disagree with the Tea Party

Well, I have to admit it:  that's a pretty good description of me.  I might quibble with the modifier of "very" in the first bullet, and I've no idea where that last one came from since none of the questions in the quiz made any mention of "tea party," but otherwise it's hitting the mark for me.

Pew continues by describing "solid liberals" as:

• Highly politically engaged
• 75% are Democrats
• Concentrated in the Northeast and West
• 57% are female
• Best educated of the groups: 49% hold at least a bachelor's degree and 27% have post-graduate experience
• A third regularly listen to NPR, about two-in-ten regularly watch The Daily Show and read The New York Times
• 59% have a passport
• 42% regularly buy organic foods
• 21% are first or second generation Americans

Again, with a few exceptions--I'm obviously not female; I do not listen to NPR or watch The Daily Show; am only an occasional purchaser of organic foods in small quantities; and, I'm more than second generation American--this shoe fits.

What's interesting is that out of the eight "key issues" that Pew identifies as being supported by the vast majority of solid liberals, four of those same issues are also supported by 52% or more of the general public, and another one is supported by 47% of the general public.  Knowing that, I now feel a little closer to the "center," whatever that might be.  These are the statements of the "key issues" with which "solid liberals" tend to agree:

1. Government often does a better job than people give it credit for.
2.  The government should do more to help needy Americans, even if it means going deeper into debt.
3.  Government regulation of business is necessary to protect the public interest.
4.  Business corporations make too much profit.
5.  Our country needs to continue making changes to give blacks equal rights with whites.
6.  Good diplomacy is the best way to ensure peace.
7.  The growing number of newcomers from other countries strengthens American society.
8.  Homosexuality should be accepted by society.

I'm good with most of the list.

Check it out for yourself.  The links are up there earlier in this posting.

And then think about deal-making in government.  Think about accomplishments like the Interstate Highway system, and the Civil Rights Act, and the space program with its landings on the Moon. 

Those were Big Deals.

Here's something to keep in mind during this election year:  those Big Deals were not, and could not have been, accomplished by people who described themselves as "most conservative" or "most liberal."  Instead, they were done by people who said "this will be good for the country."  There was no universal agreement on the proposals--there never is--so they had to make things happen by doing deals.

Complicated, messy, time-consuming, gritty deal-making.  That's where the center is.  And that's why the ones in the center are those with red, chapped and dry hands -- it's because they have to wash them so often after the dirty work of making deals.

It's the only way we can have good government.