The Death of Moderation

Almost every piece of legislation--especially major legislation--results from compromise.  Even the Health Care bill, passed when Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate, was a compromise.  Liberals wanted a single payer plan, but the legislation that was finally adopted kept the insurance companies as a major component of the health care system.

“Blue Dog Democrats” and moderate Republicans were the grease between the liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.  Democrats from states like Montana and Utah and Republicans from states like Illinois and Maine tended to stray across party lines.

Now Congress is almost completely polarized, and getting more so.  Yesterday Steven C. LaTourette, Rep. of Ohio, announced that he was retiring after nine terms.  In March he had refused to vote for the Ryan budget, and he was one of two Republicans to vote against the contempt citation for Attorney General Holder.

In another race Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz won the nomination for the U.S. Senate. His opponent, David Dewhurst, was backed by Rick Perry.  Cruz ran ads that accused Dewhust of being a moderate.  That is interesting on two fronts--first, that a candidate supported by Rick Perry is called a moderate, and secondly, that the word “moderate” is used as an insult.

The polarization has been mostly one way.  Republicans are no longer interested in any compromise.  Democrats, the responsible legislators, still try, but the more extreme Republicans become, the less Democrats will be willing to bend.  And why should they?