Via Donklephant, I stumbled across this post at CNN’s Political Ticker, discussing a speech Schwarzenegger made to the California GOP:
Schwarzenegger has been critical of some Republicans who have proposed that independents not be allowed to vote in Republican primaries.
Schwarzenegger said the goal of any party is to win elections, to become a majority and advance its ideas. “How do we succeed at that?,” he asked. “By including, not excluding. By being open to new ideas, not rejecting them out of hand. By expanding into the center, not falling back upon ourselves into a smaller and smaller corner.”
“If our party doesn’t address the needs of the people - the needs of Republicans themselves,” he said, “the voters, registered Republicans included, will look elsewhere for their political affiliation.”
Aside from missing the blatantly obvious point that voters should be able to participate in any election that their tax dollars are supporting, and/or that tax dollars shouldn’t be used to support elections that are, essentially, internal to very large clubs….I think he has a point.
I still think that those of us who don’t fit well into the duopolistic polarized power structure of D’s and R’s would be well served by a splintering of the parties, and/or the creation of a centrist third party to moderate the two older structures…but the powers that be seem to be doing a pretty good job of keeping the monoliths whole, and while Unity 08 still intrigues me, it remains to be seen if it can gain the critical mass and momentum to make a difference.
That means that we’re probably left with a pendulum swinging between the donkies and the pachyderms. The D’s stars are ascendant by virtue of their not being R’s. And, unless the GOP does a good job of reforming to tolerate centrists and/or moderates, we could be living with the donkies in power until Americans get sick of them too.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Amare // 10 Sep 2007 at 11:11 pm
It’s strange that the Governator is beginning to sound like the voice of reason, but I think he makes a good point. The GOP is losing some of their support by alienating the centrists, and they’re losing any appeal they might have had at one point.
2 John Salmon // 12 Sep 2007 at 12:50 pm
Arnie’s self-serving, of course, but no party can succeed unless it is a coalition. This is at least as much a problem for the Dems. They did elect some moderates from the South and Midwest in ‘06, but they’re given little rein to vote as their right-leaning districts would prefer. Many of these centrists (assuming a competitive election in ‘08, which Hillary’s nomination will assure) won’t survive.