The Moderate Republican: The Double Edged Sword in NY

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.

The Double Edged Sword in NY

PPP (D) New York 23rd Congressional District Survey

The candidates for Congress in your district are Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, Democrat Bill Owens, and Republican Dede Scozzafava. If the election was today, who would you vote for?

Doug Hoffman 51%
Bill Owens 34%
Dede Scozzafava 13%

If the candidates were just Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman and Democrat Bill Owens, who would you vote for?

Doug Hoffman 54%
Bill Owens 38%

While on the one hand this could be a great victory for the conservative movement, on the other hand it could be an excuse for more RINO hunting which in the end will create a permanent minority party.

8 comments:

Beth said...: I beg to differ, if you don't have two parties that are clearly defined, then why even bother having political parties? A Republican who is endorsed by radical groups such as Acorn, Steve, do you really want that in the Republican party? We need to weed out, man! Stop thinking big tent!; November 2, 2009 8:01 AM
Steve B said...: I was speaking in general terms here. This particular so-called republican was horrible and I am glad Hoffman forced the issue. However, is this going to embolden Club for Growth type organizations to push out even reasonable moderates?; November 2, 2009 8:11 AM
Beth said...: I don't mean to offend you because I know you are moderate, but I'd rather have a smaller party of conservatives than a large party of moderates if I had my choice. But I think you may think the conservative numbers are smaller than they actually are.; November 2, 2009 3:20 PM
Steve B said...: You don't have to worry about offending me! =)

I'd be curious to see some polling as to how many true conservatives there are. Maybe you are right and there are more out there than I suspect. I'll try to track own some data on that front.; November 2, 2009 3:59 PM
Beth said...: I'm just going by the fact that Beck and Limbaugh have good ratings, not scientific data, just my observations.; November 2, 2009 9:51 PM
Beth said...: Got saw this link at another blog:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/123854/conservatives-maintain-edge-top-ideological-group.aspx; November 2, 2009 9:55 PM
Steve B said...: Beth-
I saw this one too. The problem with that survey is that they lump "very conservative" and "conservative" together. I think under that rubric I would be conservative and you would probably be very conservative.

Additionally it includes conservative democrats...what exactly would the definition of a conservative democrat be?

In terms of building a national party that can get things done...or stop things from being done, we need to know where are true strength lies.; November 3, 2009 10:11 AM
Beth said...: Isn't your comment the reason why we should get rid of political parties?; November 3, 2009 4:48 PM

The Moderate Republican

What the Moderate Republican Stands For

The American Conservative » Rod Dreher

Via Meadia

Front Porch Republic

David Brooks

The Soap Box

The Double Edged Sword in NY

8 comments: