(November 7, 2018 at 9:53 am)Jörmungandr Wrote: I'm glad that one of those Muslim women, Ilhan Omar, was elected in my state. I had something to do with that. However, I didn't vote for her in the primary, but rather for a more moderate Democrat, Margaret Anderson Kelliher. While I agree with Ilhan Omar on a lot of issues, I thought she was too far to the left, and that would hurt her chances at election and her ability to get things done in Washington. We'll see about the latter, but in this election, a lot of candidates won on very progressive platforms. This seems to indicate that Democrats as a whole are becoming more progressive rather than keeping to the center in order to win elections. I have to wonder if that isn't a window into 2020, when we can possibly expect a true liberal to emerge in the presidential primaries. The next two years of Democrat control of the house will likely have a lot to do with whether that comes to pass or not. I suspect that legislation and the federal government will shift toward the center as a result, and that contentious fights between the two parties will be the norm. That could set the stage for a candidate who is more centrist than those that Democrats are electing this year.
As far as "center" depends on what you mean.
Economically there is no "center" only dems being slightly right of center. Socially dems are on the right side, but because Reagan started the age of union busting and deregulation our Politicians have been pulled economically to the right, not because they wanted to, but because back then our voters gave up. Our politicians have been held hostage by the GOP on economics because they have dominated the voting districts which has force our politicians to compete on their terms, not ours.
But right now, I'll take that gridlock over continually caving in to the GOP. They have been winning the tug of war since Reagan and that needs to stop both socially and economically.
