Politics is not a battle for the middle. It is a battle for defining the terms of the political debate. It is a battle to be able to say what is the middle.
And so it has always been. Third Way is a right wing organization intended to define right wing policies as "moderate." Entities like Third Way are harmful to progressives because they move the Overton Window to the right. Progressives should desire the demise of organizations like Third Way, as opposed to wishing pols like Heath Shuler lose. The demise of Third Way forwards progressivism. The loss by a Jim Marshall will not.
Here's why - it has to do with Third Way's reason number 3 - the idea that "moderates help forge good policy." This is absolutely false. "Moderates" of the Third Way ilk do extreme damage to good policy. Consider the examples provided by Third Way:
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, for example, was a bipartisan compromise reached after a 54-day filibuster in the Senate led, incidentally, by a Democrat—Georgia Senator Richard Russell.[i] The final bill passed 73-27 after Minority Leader Everett Dirksen rounded up enough Republicans to invoke cloture.[ii]
Likewise, the Social Security Act of 1935 passed with 372 yeses in the House and 77 yeses in the Senate,[iii] while Medicare passed the House in 1965 with 307 votes in the House and 70 votes in the Senate. Politifact.com rated a longstanding liberal claim that no Republicans supported Social Security and Medicare until the very end as “false.”[iv]
The Civil Rights Acts and the Social Security Act were not the product of "moderate" policymaking. They were the product of PROGRESSIVE policymaking, coupled with a political operation that knew how to make progressive policy "moderate." In 1935, Third Way would have been arguing against the Social Security Act and in 1965 it would have been arguing against the Civil Rights Acts. And in 2010, they argued against the public option. That's what they do. These examples are exactly why groups like Third Way are so harmful - they move the middle to the right.
It so happens that on a lot of issues, I agree with Third Way substantively. Trade for instance. And I will argue these points with them. What will not do, and what Third Way does every day, is pretend that my views on those issues are progressive. Because they aren't. If Third Way was an honest organization, it could contribute to the Democratic discussion. But it isn't. And it doesn't.
So my view is to the degree they are the best option, keep the "moderate" Dem pols. But ditch Third Way.
Speaking for me only
