"Give me a lever long enough...
...and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world!"--Archimedes
Nick Troiano of The Centrist Project describes his plan to, I don't know... maybe save the country in 2018?
The idea is simple. If maybe two or three moderate independents were elected to the U.S. Senate (Evan McMullin in Utah, for example, or Chuck Hagel in Nebraska), they could deny both parties a majority and dictate who gets to be Majority Leader, who get to chair the committees, and so forth. Reasonable Republicans and Democrats (Republican Ben Sasse of Nebraska, for example, and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia- and incumbent independent Angus King of Maine) might well at least at times break ranks with their parties, if any, and join in.
They could also say to the two parties, "Ok. Each of you come up with a budget/program to address climate change/tax reform plan (or whatever). If you want to get it passed, work together. Compromise. Use common sense. Stop putting ideology first and put solutions and people first. We will support the plan that makes and sense tries to solve problems rather than blame the other side and score ideological points.
"If you want to win, behave like grownups, and we will give you the votes you need to win."
All of a sudden negative ads become less practical. After all, you're not just running against one opponent who is your ideological opposite; you also have to consider the other one, who wants only to talk substance. Demonizing your opponent will become less effective since you'll have two of them coming from different places on the spectrum. Politicians will have to deal with ideas rather than personalities, poor babies.
One thought of my own. The interviewer in the video, Alexander Heffner, asks about divisive issues like abortion. Mr. Trioiano suggests, probably correctly, that some people of attracted to the movement will be pro-life, and some pro-choice.
On the other hand, what about the position that the overwhelming majority of the American people have held for years- a centrist one, in which abortion might be legal in certain circumstances, but not in others? What about promoting access to birth control, and encouraging adoption, and making it more practical for courageous women who can't keep their babies to carry them to term so that they can be adopted by the huge number of deserving parents who can't adopt because so many babies are being aborted?
If you can't save all those babies, why not save as many as you can?
If some women can't have abortions, why not give them viable alternatives?
Oh, And just a final note here for the Mr. Heffner: George Clooney is not a centrist!
Nick Troiano of The Centrist Project describes his plan to, I don't know... maybe save the country in 2018?
The idea is simple. If maybe two or three moderate independents were elected to the U.S. Senate (Evan McMullin in Utah, for example, or Chuck Hagel in Nebraska), they could deny both parties a majority and dictate who gets to be Majority Leader, who get to chair the committees, and so forth. Reasonable Republicans and Democrats (Republican Ben Sasse of Nebraska, for example, and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia- and incumbent independent Angus King of Maine) might well at least at times break ranks with their parties, if any, and join in.
They could also say to the two parties, "Ok. Each of you come up with a budget/program to address climate change/tax reform plan (or whatever). If you want to get it passed, work together. Compromise. Use common sense. Stop putting ideology first and put solutions and people first. We will support the plan that makes and sense tries to solve problems rather than blame the other side and score ideological points.
"If you want to win, behave like grownups, and we will give you the votes you need to win."
All of a sudden negative ads become less practical. After all, you're not just running against one opponent who is your ideological opposite; you also have to consider the other one, who wants only to talk substance. Demonizing your opponent will become less effective since you'll have two of them coming from different places on the spectrum. Politicians will have to deal with ideas rather than personalities, poor babies.
One thought of my own. The interviewer in the video, Alexander Heffner, asks about divisive issues like abortion. Mr. Trioiano suggests, probably correctly, that some people of attracted to the movement will be pro-life, and some pro-choice.
On the other hand, what about the position that the overwhelming majority of the American people have held for years- a centrist one, in which abortion might be legal in certain circumstances, but not in others? What about promoting access to birth control, and encouraging adoption, and making it more practical for courageous women who can't keep their babies to carry them to term so that they can be adopted by the huge number of deserving parents who can't adopt because so many babies are being aborted?
If you can't save all those babies, why not save as many as you can?
If some women can't have abortions, why not give them viable alternatives?
Oh, And just a final note here for the Mr. Heffner: George Clooney is not a centrist!
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