What’s a Moderate To Do?

Last week the centrist, bipartisan organization No Labels labelled its attempt to find a unity ticket a failure. No Labels had hoped to push the two major parties to the center by threatening to launch a third party campaign if they gave us another round of Biden v. Trump. But the parties did just that and still, No Labels couldn’t field an alternative team.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, part of me wanted No Labels to move forward because it represented just the kind of sensible moderation that I think the country needs. Moderates are the majority and yet the two party system is held hostage by the extremes on either side. I’m still a Democrat mostly because I’m more repulsed by the hard-right Republicans than I am by the hard-left Democrats. It’s all push and no pull.

But on the other hand, I worried about where No Labels’ votes would come from. There was a danger, though far from a certainty, that Biden would be more hurt than Trump, given the rabid support of his followers versus the tepid support for Biden. One of those courted by No Labels, Chris Christie, summed up that feeling. “If my candidacy in any way, shape or form would help Donald Trump become President again,” the former New Jersey governor said, “then it is not the way forward.” Good for Christie. That’s putting the country above his own ego, something I’m not sure he’s made a habit of in the rest of his career.

In the end this leaves a lot of Americans in despair. In the latest poll, 62% of us want a different choice. I came to the conclusion months ago that it would be less risky for my party to nominate a new face instead of Biden again, but barring a major health scare, that won’t happen now.

I continue to think that the answer is a moderate Democratic Party movement — a party within a party. Like the Wisconsin Progressives of the early 20th Century, this would be an organized party that would have its own platform and nominate its own candidates, but crucially, within the Democratic primary framework. The moderate Democrats would pledge to support whoever wins those primaries, which would eliminate the third party spoiler threat. Something similar might happen on the Republican side, though it feels like there’s less room for this in the GOP.

I keep suggesting this in the hopes that somebody who knows their way around politics and is of an organizing bent will take up the cause. Anybody out there?

So far, just echoes. Of course, this would be too late for the presidential race and it makes no sense to start that big in any event. But a movement that started with, for example, Wisconsin state legislative races this fall could have an impact.

No Labels is now officially just another noble ship bashed against the rocks of the dysfunctional two party system. But there’s a better idea out there. Moderate Democrats could be the answer.