Here’s an optimistic view of America: only 20% of us are crazy.
I reach this happy conclusion in rough — and perhaps unreliable — fashion, but hey, any port in a storm, people.
Here’s how my reasoning goes. According to a recent Gallup poll, we are evenly split between those who identify as Republican and Democrat: about 45% in each camp, with 10% independent. Of the Republicans, 37% are MAGA pro-Trump zealots. Among Democrats, about 10% are hard-left, super-woke NPR listeners. So, let’s say that’s a third of Republicans, or about 15% of Americans, who are hard-right crazy and about 5% of us (10% of 45%) who are hard-left fanatics.
That means that 80% of Americans are sane. We range from conservative-moderate Republicans through independents to liberal-moderate Democrats. Here at YSDA we shade toward a little left of center.
It might not feel like the nation is so well grounded because moderation doesn’t make good copy. It’s the MAGA hatters and the wokesters that grab the headlines because they just say the darndest things. They’re colorful, they carry creative signs, and they wear matching tee shirts and hats and rhyme things with “ho.” They speak in apocalyptic terms. If something doesn’t go their way the results will be “devastating” or “immoral” or “existential.” Moderates tend not to take to the streets to demand compromise and reasonableness. Nuance doesn’t make for catchy slogans. “Smart Public Investments In Line With Fiscal Responsibility Now!” See what I mean?
And, most unfortunately, we don’t have many of our own candidates at any level of government. The presidential contest seems locked into a Trump-Biden rematch. While I generally like Biden, I can’t make a credible argument that he’s a moderate. He’s a political survivor who goes to the center of wherever the power base happens to be within the Democratic Party. And, even though most Democrats are moderates, the elites in the party are almost all hard-left, so Biden goes with them.
While there are all kinds of bipartisan, nonpartisan, center-left, center-right and moderate caucuses, institutions, websites, news outlets and think tanks out there (see our Resources page), none of them seems to be having much influence in either party. No Labels is the most prominent centrist movement right now, and I do have some hope for it, but it comes with its own set of risks and flaws. Even I won’t vote for a No Labels candidate if it runs the risk of returning Trump to power.
Eighty-percent of Americans need to find their own movement and organization. But until that happens, we can at least content ourselves with the knowledge that we are in the majority.
Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos 
Dave:
Well-written. Timely. Unforced. Interesting. Funny. Just smart enough not to be pointy-headed. Perfect length.
Just before I read this, I read a recommended substack column. In the first three paragraphs: four “fuck”s, one “shitty,” three “fucking”s. For the fun of it, I just dropped those out. Read great.
Anyway, you deserved a compliment today. Because you earned it.
George
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Let me help you make a credible argument that Joe Biden is a moderate. Most importantly, he has governed competently and with consistently good outcomes, in a time when talk seems more important than action. Trump and Bernie have their fans, but they can’t govern. That easily puts him in the 80%, which is the point of your blog post. Granted, that’s a low bar, but considering the times we live in, I’ll take it.
The American Rescue Plan. The Inflation Reduction Act. Growth in jobs generally, and manufacturing jobs specifically. Inflation is down from 9% to 3%. Unemployment is 3.6%. International relations have been handled deftly. The pandemic could’ve caused a depression that was avoided by swift and bold action.
OK, so student loan forgiveness was a miss. Federal debt has to be dealt with, but certainly not in the manner Republicans wanted to do it in the debt ceiling crisis — there was nothing moderate about that.
Let’s not engage in false equivalency, here. Biden didn’t try to overthrow democracy as Trump did. Or usher in Marxism as the Wall Street Journal editorial page would have you believe. He didn’t undermine the Supreme Court and the U.S. Constitution as Mitch McConnell did. He didn’t even gouge the rich. You want to think like a Republican? The S&P under Biden is doing about as well as under Reagen or Trump. It turns out stability and competency is good for capitalism.
I realize it’s hard to sound like a moderate when only one party is interested in governing and the other party is interested in, what, keeping their leading nominee out of prison, feuding with Micky Mouse, and boycotting Bud Light. Biden put the economy, the environment, and democracy ahead of ideology and party pettiness. He sure sounds like a moderate to me.
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