The Moderate Republican: New Jersey Lawmaker Leading from the Center

What the Moderate Republican Stands For

Republicans came to power as the party of big ideas, and without returning to that model they could be looking at a long winter. Additionally, those big ideas need to focus on Middle America. Three issues that could work are conservation, reform and localism.

Conservation- a return to the Teddy Roosevelt model of conservation. One doesn’t necessarily have to buy into global warming to appreciate the need to protect the natural resources we have.

Reform- the federal government is bigger than ever, and won’t be getting any smaller over the next four years. Republicans need to fashion themselves as national reformers. Much of Middle America wants the government as safety net, but bloated bureaucracies breed corruption that needs to be dealt with.

Localism- this is the lynchpin that brings it all together. If we bought our food locally, shopped locally, governed locally, many of the issue we now have to deal with would go away, or at the least become manageable.

Below is a collection of writers who speak about the things that matter. Some are Right, some Left and some Center, but all intelligent and rational voices.

A timely article from The Hill profiles Congressman Leonard Lance from New Jersey, who is pushing the GOP towards a more centrist approach, especially in the northeast.

Lance is a fiscal conservative and social centrist who emphasizes his environmental record — the big-tent approach that pure conservatives love to hate.

But Lance is using his beliefs to advocate a position conservatives can support — getting more Republicans elected to Congress, particularly in the Northeast, which is traditionally a Democratic stronghold.
“I am very vigorous about this,” Lance said in an interview. “It is clear beyond dispute that there are not very many of us; it would be ridiculous for me to argue otherwise. But in my judgment there is going to be more of us and that’s the way the party should move forward. I have discussed this with the leadership on many occasions.”

The Moderate Republican

What the Moderate Republican Stands For

The American Conservative » Rod Dreher

Via Meadia

Front Porch Republic

David Brooks

The Soap Box

New Jersey Lawmaker Leading from the Center

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