prospects

The Demise of the Moderate Republican by Paul Starr

hough commentators often portray the Democrats and Republicans ing the coverage that Medi- as mirror images of each other, American politics is not symmetrical. care beneficiaries now have. In 1995, the Republicans We do not have one party that represents the left in just the way that T also sought to turn Medicare the other party represents the right. Among congressional Democrats, into a voucher program, but moderates and conservatives sharply circumscribed what Barack Obama they didn’t breathe a word about it until after they won could do on the economy, For example, Reagan at first number of moderate Repub- the 1994 election. If Republi- health care, climate, and wanted to turn the Medic- licans in Congress has now cans in Congress are willing other issues even when his aid program into a “block been so reduced that the old to vote for it now, they will party had majorities in both grant” to the states (eliminat- restraints on the party are surely be willing to carry it the House and Senate. ing the rights to health care gone. As a result, in a divid- out if they win in 2012. The Republicans, in con- provided to the poor under ed government bipartisan The alternation in power trast, have virtually cleansed federal law), but thanks to cooperation is more difficult, of the two major parties is an themselves of moderates and an alliance of Democrats and and if Republicans take con- inevitable aspect of Ameri- are poised to move the coun- moderate Republicans, Con- trol of both Congress and the can politics. American elec- try sharply to the right if they gress refused and during the presidency in 2013, national tions hinge largely on the win the 2012 election. The 1980s, began expanding the policy will likely swing even performance of the economy, source of the party’s shift is program to cover more low- more sharply to the right and things don’t look good a mysterious death that may income children and preg- than it has after previous now on that score. So, despite be the single most impor- nant women. Rather than Republican victories. the unpopularity of their tant contemporary political trying to privatize Medicare development—the demise of and Social Security, Reagan the moderate Republican in ended up stabilizing both pro- The old, moderate restraining influences national politics. grams through measures that on the Republican Party have disappeared. Growing up in New York enjoyed bipartisan support. at a time when Dwight By the 1994 election—the The budget introduced policy views, the Republi- Eisenhower was president second Republican “revolu- by Rep. Paul Ryan and cans could win in 2012 and and Nelson Rockefeller was tion” of recent decades—the approved by the Republican carry out the program long governor, I would never party had moved further to House is exhibit A. It was sought by right-wingers to have guessed that moderate the right. Yet even in the mid- no surprise that Republi- reverse the hard-won social, Republicans stood in mor- 1990s, influential Republican cans wanted to repeal the labor, and environmental tal peril. For decades, they moderates in Congress, par- Affordable Care Act without protections that the United populated the upper ech- ticularly in the Senate (includ- replacing it with any alter- States has established since elons of American society, ing, for example, John Chafee, native means of covering the New Deal. many of them from families Arlen Specter, Jim Jeffords, the uninsured or that they The threat to those pro- with great wealth and long Nancy Kassebaum, and Wil- wanted to turn Medicaid grams comes from a change records of public service. liam Cohen), continued to into a block grant on terms that began decades ago as a These weren’t the sort of serve as a brake on conser- that would result in more shift in the balance of influ- people whose political pros- vative policy and as partners low-income people losing ence within the GOP and has pects a liberal ever thought with a Democratic adminis- coverage. But it was a bit of now reached the point where to worry about. tration. Without the support a surprise that, besides cut- moderate restraint has been Even when Ronald Rea- of those moderates, Congress ting the tax rates for the rich effectively extinguished. I gan was elected in 1980, would never have enacted the to levels not seen since 1931, was never much of a fan of the Republican Party still State Children’s Health Insur- they also voted to eliminate moderate Republicans, yet included significant num- ance Program in 1997. the traditional Medicare these days, I find myself bers of moderates in Con- But with the 2010 elec- program and replace it with wishing more than anything gress who limited how far tion, American politics has a voucher whose value is else that they would rise right the party could move. entered a new phase. The sure to fall short of provid- from the dead. tap

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