Why are the major parties pandering to extremists?

[All Along The Watchtower]

How Democrats purged “safe, legal, rare” from the party

No exception abortion laws are being increasingly promoted by Republicans


I feel like there are similar dynamics, to varying extents, re: COVID, guns, and “Wokeness.” Regardless of the issue or the situation, you get the distinct impression that politicians and their surrogates in both of America’s major parties are playing a part, reading from a script, performing a role (#showbusinessforuglypeople) for an increasingly insular set of fellow travelers who are not in fact representative of the broader population.  

Or is this all merely “message discipline?”  

[Klobmentum Mutilated Herself]

"Safe, legal, and rare", and the apologetic, wishy-washy message of Democrsts pro-choice is what allowed the party of the death penalty, pre-emptive wars, police executions without trial, and taking away healthcare and food stamps to successfully brand themselves as "pro-life" and eventually succeed at overturning Roe. A fetus is not a person. It should not be considered extremist to say that and legislate with that in mind.

If Democrats are pandering to extremists, where's single-payer? Where's free college? Where's the carbon tax and clean energy? Where's the wealth tax? Where's UBI? Where's the $15 minimum wage? Where's the reduction in the Pentagon budget? Where's IRV? Where's the COVID stimulus? Where's COVID leave? Where's maternity leave? Where's sick leave? Where's the federal jobs program? Where's rent control? Where's public transit? Where's public housing? Where's banking regulations? Where's the crackdown on corporate crime?

These are kitchen table issues that the Democrats simply do not run on. They don't even try to run on them. These are popular policies that win elections. This isn't the idpol stuff which, while important when genuine (which it never is), is not popular.

The Democrats are a centrist party with enough left-wing senators to count on one cartoon character's hand, and enough left-wing house members to count on maybe two or three hands. And none are in leadership positions, except Sanders.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

The example of someone "purged" from the Democratic party is Tulsi Gabbard.

A better question might be, "Why do people constantly try to normalize Republicans by playing the 'both sides' game?"

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

If Democrats are pandering to extremists, where's single-payer? Where's free college? Where's the carbon tax and clean energy? Where's the wealth tax? Where's UBI? Where's the $15 minimum wage? Where's the reduction in the Pentagon budget? Where's IRV? Where's the COVID stimulus? Where's COVID leave? Where's maternity leave? Where's sick leave? Where's the federal jobs program? Where's rent control? Where's public transit? Where's public housing? Where's banking regulations? Where's the crackdown on corporate crime?

Democrats need abortion for brand identification reasons because they aren't taking bold stands on any of the issues you mentioned.

[Schiff for Senate]

Agree with the OP. The majority of Americans' views are not being represented by most politicians. I am one such politician. We need more sanity and pragmatism and moderates in politics, and I say this unironically. At least on some issues. No more crazy far-left and far-right laws on abortion - just safe, legal and rare, the way it should be and the way most politicians agreed it should be for a long time.

"Safe, legal, and rare", and the apologetic, wishy-washy message of Democrsts pro-choice is what allowed the party of the death penalty, pre-emptive wars, police executions without trial, and taking away healthcare and food stamps to successfully brand themselves as "pro-life" and eventually succeed at overturning Roe. A fetus is not a person. It should not be considered extremist to say that and legislate with that in mind.

If Democrats are pandering to extremists, where's single-payer? Where's free college? Where's the carbon tax and clean energy? Where's the wealth tax? Where's UBI? Where's the $15 minimum wage? Where's the reduction in the Pentagon budget? Where's IRV? Where's the COVID stimulus? Where's COVID leave? Where's maternity leave? Where's sick leave? Where's the federal jobs program? Where's rent control? Where's public transit? Where's public housing? Where's banking regulations? Where's the crackdown on corporate crime?

These are kitchen table issues that the Democrats simply do not run on. They don't even try to run on them. These are popular policies that win elections.

The Democrats are a centrist party with enough progressive senators to count on one hand, and enough progressive house members to count on maybe two or three hands. And none are in leadership positions, except Sanders.

Progressives don't represent the majority of Americans (or even the majority of Democratic voters actually, lol). The majority of Americans aren't crazily far-left. Continue coping. Your faction is a minority and it should be a silent minority. The moderate silent majority isn't being represented properly by either GOPers or Democrats and it's well past time that it was. That's what we need, not crazy far-left proposals. Democrats ARE pandering way too much to the progressive minority, though not as much as the GOP is pandering to the far-right minority. Between all of that, sane, pragmatic people who don't want to enact extremist laws get left out. Given that they still represent a majority of Americans on a lot of key issues, such as abortion, it makes no sense that they're the least represented. We realllly need a third party that advocates these viewpoints. Because clearly neither Democrats nor the GOP are interested in the opinions of Moderate Americans. Though I'll give you this much - Democrats are MUCH more moderate, mainstream, 'establishment' and don't pander nearly as much to the extreme element of their party as the GOP. The GOP is utterly off the rails. It's why while neither party is a good fit, and a third-party is necessary, real moderates should back Democrats over Republicans most of the time. It's not enough though, not until we get more moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans back in office.

[Klobmentum Mutilated Herself]

Agree with the OP. The majority of Americans' views are not being represented by most politicians. I am one such politician. We need more sanity and pragmatism and moderates in politics, and I say this unironically. At least on some issues. No more crazy far-left and far-right laws on abortion - just safe, legal and rare, the way it should be and the way most politicians agreed it should be for a long time.

"Safe, legal, and rare", and the apologetic, wishy-washy message of Democrsts pro-choice is what allowed the party of the death penalty, pre-emptive wars, police executions without trial, and taking away healthcare and food stamps to successfully brand themselves as "pro-life" and eventually succeed at overturning Roe. A fetus is not a person. It should not be considered extremist to say that and legislate with that in mind.

If Democrats are pandering to extremists, where's single-payer? Where's free college? Where's the carbon tax and clean energy? Where's the wealth tax? Where's UBI? Where's the $15 minimum wage? Where's the reduction in the Pentagon budget? Where's IRV? Where's the COVID stimulus? Where's COVID leave? Where's maternity leave? Where's sick leave? Where's the federal jobs program? Where's rent control? Where's public transit? Where's public housing? Where's banking regulations? Where's the crackdown on corporate crime?

These are kitchen table issues that the Democrats simply do not run on. They don't even try to run on them. These are popular policies that win elections.

The Democrats are a centrist party with enough progressive senators to count on one hand, and enough progressive house members to count on maybe two or three hands. And none are in leadership positions, except Sanders.

Progressives don't represent the majority of Americans (or even the majority of Democratic voters actually, lol). The majority of Americans aren't crazily far-left. Continue coping. Your faction is a minority and it should be a silent minority. The moderate silent majority isn't being represented properly by either GOPers or Democrats and it's well past time that it was. That's what we need, not crazy far-left proposals. Democrats ARE pandering way too much to the progressive minority, though not as much as the GOP is pandering to the far-right minority. Between all of that, sane, pragmatic people who don't want to enact extremist laws get left out. Given that they still represent a majority of Americans on a lot of key issues, such as abortion, it makes no sense that they're the least represented. We realllly need a third party that advocates these viewpoints. Because clearly neither Democrats nor the GOP are interested in the opinions of Moderate Americans. Though I'll give you this much - Democrats are MUCH more moderate, mainstream, 'establishment' and don't pander nearly as much to the extreme element of their party as the GOP. The GOP is utterly off the rails. It's why while neither party is a good fit, and a third-party is necessary, real moderates should back Democrats over Republicans most of the time. It's not enough though, not until we get more moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans back in office.

Who's coping here? I know that the Democrats are not a left wing party and do not attempt to even pretend to be a left wing party.

The Democrats ARE the moderate party you long for. They have been since the 90s. They do not run on anything that the left wing cares about. If they were pandering to extremists,  they'd at least pay lip service to the policies I listed before not bothering once they get elected. They don't do that, because they don't run on those issues. They are a centrist party.

Generic Democrat is not Elizabeth Warren. Generic Democrat is Terry McAuliffe.

If you can't see that and continue to latch onto the narrative that Dems are pandering to people like me, then you're the one who's coping. The Democrats are your party. They're not mine.

[Schiff for Senate]

Agree with the OP. The majority of Americans' views are not being represented by most politicians. I am one such politician. We need more sanity and pragmatism and moderates in politics, and I say this unironically. At least on some issues. No more crazy far-left and far-right laws on abortion - just safe, legal and rare, the way it should be and the way most politicians agreed it should be for a long time.

"Safe, legal, and rare", and the apologetic, wishy-washy message of Democrsts pro-choice is what allowed the party of the death penalty, pre-emptive wars, police executions without trial, and taking away healthcare and food stamps to successfully brand themselves as "pro-life" and eventually succeed at overturning Roe. A fetus is not a person. It should not be considered extremist to say that and legislate with that in mind.

If Democrats are pandering to extremists, where's single-payer? Where's free college? Where's the carbon tax and clean energy? Where's the wealth tax? Where's UBI? Where's the $15 minimum wage? Where's the reduction in the Pentagon budget? Where's IRV? Where's the COVID stimulus? Where's COVID leave? Where's maternity leave? Where's sick leave? Where's the federal jobs program? Where's rent control? Where's public transit? Where's public housing? Where's banking regulations? Where's the crackdown on corporate crime?

These are kitchen table issues that the Democrats simply do not run on. They don't even try to run on them. These are popular policies that win elections.

The Democrats are a centrist party with enough progressive senators to count on one hand, and enough progressive house members to count on maybe two or three hands. And none are in leadership positions, except Sanders.

Progressives don't represent the majority of Americans (or even the majority of Democratic voters actually, lol). The majority of Americans aren't crazily far-left. Continue coping. Your faction is a minority and it should be a silent minority. The moderate silent majority isn't being represented properly by either GOPers or Democrats and it's well past time that it was. That's what we need, not crazy far-left proposals. Democrats ARE pandering way too much to the progressive minority, though not as much as the GOP is pandering to the far-right minority. Between all of that, sane, pragmatic people who don't want to enact extremist laws get left out. Given that they still represent a majority of Americans on a lot of key issues, such as abortion, it makes no sense that they're the least represented. We realllly need a third party that advocates these viewpoints. Because clearly neither Democrats nor the GOP are interested in the opinions of Moderate Americans. Though I'll give you this much - Democrats are MUCH more moderate, mainstream, 'establishment' and don't pander nearly as much to the extreme element of their party as the GOP. The GOP is utterly off the rails. It's why while neither party is a good fit, and a third-party is necessary, real moderates should back Democrats over Republicans most of the time. It's not enough though, not until we get more moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans back in office.

Who's coping here? I know that the Democrats are not a left wing party and do not attempt to even pretend to be a left wing party.

The Democrats ARE the moderate party you long for. They have been since the 90s. They do not run on anything that the left wing cares about. If they were pandering to extremists,  they'd at least pay lip service to the policies I listed before not bothering once they get elected. They don't do that, because they don't run on those issues. They are a centrist party.

Generic Democrat is not Elizabeth Warren. Generic Democrat is Terry McAuliffe.

If you can't see that and continue to latch onto the narrative that Dems are pandering to people like me, then you're the one who's coping. The Democrats are your party. They're not mine.

The Democrats need to moderate on a whole bunch of issues before they're my party.

But in all honesty, like I said, you aren't that wrong. Democrats really are a pretty moderate/mainstream party that doesn't give its radical wing much credence. It's the GOP that does that. I accpet blame for both-siding this. I'm just frustrated with the rhetoric Democrats employ sometimes that's so un-moderate. You're right, though - at the end of the day, on substance, they are an extremely moderate and concilliatory party. It's the GOP that is extremely radical most of the time.

[Hammy]

How long did it take you to find that cherry picked WaPo opinion piece from three years ago? Both parties have been appealing to the farthest right wings of their parties on things that matter the most.

[politicallefty]

Agree with the OP. The majority of Americans' views are not being represented by most politicians. I am one such politician. We need more sanity and pragmatism and moderates in politics, and I say this unironically. At least on some issues. No more crazy far-left and far-right laws on abortion - just safe, legal and rare, the way it should be and the way most politicians agreed it should be for a long time.

Personally, I don't think our system of government works anymore. It is completely antiquated and was not designed for the 21st century (let alone the 20th). The adoption of the 17th Amendment is really the only major constitutional change to the federal government in terms of the structure of the government itself. The House is largely unchanged since the days of the founding. The Presidency slowly evolved over several decades to being elected by the people (through the Electoral College). Only the 17th Amendment changed the Senate and that was possibly to forestall a more radical change, such as the abolition of the Senate entirely. Most of us in this country learned early in school that the Senate was supposedly designed to be a saucer to cool the passions of the House (i.e. the people). It does nothing of the sort. It's a roadblock at best, but can probably more aptly be called a woodchipper.

The House is gerrymandered on both sides, although one side is certainly far worse (and only one side wants to do anything about it nationally). Primaries are also a big issue that relate to that issue, but also to others as well. In a sense, there is such a thing as too much democracy. What I mean by that is that there are too many elections. Most primaries are low turnout elections where the average vote carries much more weight (not to mention when ballot initiatives are shoved onto some random primary or special election day that many voters aren't even aware of). We've done pretty well in terms of turnout in 2018 and 2020, the highest turnout respective turnout rates in over a century. However, that doesn't get to the bigger issues at hand that I mentioned before.

[OSR stands with Israel]

1. Cause they are the ones who are passionate about certain issues and would vote for or against a candidate based on those issues

2. They are the ones who turnout in primaries and primaries in the US have very little gatekeeping mechanisms

3. Voters have been generally upset at the establishment since 2008 and that tends to benefit the more extreme candidates 

[GeneralMacArthur]

I don't think it's accurate to say the Democratic Party is pandering to extremists.

The article you linked is behind a paywall but it has a picture of Tulsi Gabbard as the header so I'm assuming it's from like 3 years ago.  To find an article about Republicans pandering to abortion extremists you'd only have to look back a matter of minutes, maybe hours.

Democrats don't want to cede ground on partial birth abortion because Republicans aren't arguing about it in good faith.  They've concocted a bunch of lies around partial birth abortion, basically that it's capricious whores deciding at the last minute to abort their almost-fully-grown child, and a common case for abortion.  When in reality partial-birth abortions are vanishingly rare and almost always because the life of the mother is threatened and/or there's something horribly wrong with the fetus.

Republicans do not have a real solution to this issue.  They just want to ban partial-birth abortion altogether, which in practice would mean that either (A) women whose lives are threatened by their pregnancies would just have to die in childbirth, or (B) women would be forced to deliver malformed fetuses that have no chance of survival.  Republicans simply refuse to acknowledge that this is what they're really after.  Instead they just make these emotional appeals based on lies, and it works politically, but it's terrible policy.

Democrats are more responsible and unwilling to adopt terrible policy simply for political expediency.  That's not "pandering to extremists", it's the opposite.

[Del Tachi]

On the contrary, the internal discussions of both major parties are dominated by moderates.  Neither the party leadership nor the voting bases are very motivated by strict ideology, which is why the activist types on both the left and right are always somewhat maligned.

If you disagree with this then you have redefined "extremist" to mean something other than what it does.

[Leo]

I am a casually consumer of political news and over the years I have seen many Democratic lawmakers and reporters state unequivocally that they have private conversations with Republicans on the Hill where they state the polar opposite of what they say on camera or how they vote.  I have never once seen a reporter or Republican say the same about a Democrat.

Look no further than the deluge of tell all books by Republicans after they left the Trump White House.

Am I wrong?  It is crazy how many times Republicans come out in private and admit they are all full of sh*t.  And it is amazing who they tell.  Dems and reporters are supposed to be their arch enemies and yet they go straight to them of all people to unburden their souls.

How can anyone do a what-about-ism on this?!

[TheTide]

"Safe, legal, and rare", and the apologetic, wishy-washy message of Democrsts pro-choice is what allowed the party of the death penalty, pre-emptive wars, police executions without trial, and taking away healthcare and food stamps to successfully brand themselves as "pro-life" and eventually succeed at overturning Roe. A fetus is not a person. It should not be considered extremist to say that and legislate with that in mind.

If Democrats are pandering to extremists, where's single-payer? Where's free college? Where's the carbon tax and clean energy? Where's the wealth tax? Where's UBI? Where's the $15 minimum wage? Where's the reduction in the Pentagon budget? Where's IRV? Where's the COVID stimulus? Where's COVID leave? Where's maternity leave? Where's sick leave? Where's the federal jobs program? Where's rent control? Where's public transit? Where's public housing? Where's banking regulations? Where's the crackdown on corporate crime?

These are kitchen table issues that the Democrats simply do not run on. They don't even try to run on them. These are popular policies that win elections. This isn't the idpol stuff which, while important when genuine (which it never is), is not popular.

The Democrats are a centrist party with enough left-wing senators to count on one cartoon character's hand, and enough left-wing house members to count on maybe two or three hands. And none are in leadership positions, except Sanders.

I take the word 'extremist' to mean, in this context, 'unpleasant people'. Labelling policies as 'extreme' or 'moderate' is just a bit silly and a way of avoiding debate.

[Mercenary]

"Safe, legal, and rare", and the apologetic, wishy-washy message of Democrsts pro-choice is what allowed the party of the death penalty, pre-emptive wars, police executions without trial, and taking away healthcare and food stamps to successfully brand themselves as "pro-life" and eventually succeed at overturning Roe. A fetus is not a person. It should not be considered extremist to say that and legislate with that in mind.

If Democrats are pandering to extremists, where's single-payer? Where's free college? Where's the carbon tax and clean energy? Where's the wealth tax? Where's UBI? Where's the $15 minimum wage? Where's the reduction in the Pentagon budget? Where's IRV? Where's the COVID stimulus? Where's COVID leave? Where's maternity leave? Where's sick leave? Where's the federal jobs program? Where's rent control? Where's public transit? Where's public housing? Where's banking regulations? Where's the crackdown on corporate crime?

These are kitchen table issues that the Democrats simply do not run on. They don't even try to run on them. These are popular policies that win elections. This isn't the idpol stuff which, while important when genuine (which it never is), is not popular.

The Democrats are a centrist party with enough left-wing senators to count on one cartoon character's hand, and enough left-wing house members to count on maybe two or three hands. And none are in leadership positions, except Sanders.

Dems pander to extremist on social issues. They dont do squat on economic issues because like the GOP they hate the middle class. Ill agree Ds are centrist or even right of center on economic issues but thry are certainly not center on social ones. I wish Ds ran on those issues as I supporr all those. But what I want more is a party that runs on those AND that is prolife/anti abortion.

[Alben Barkley]

The internet.

Not even ironically.

The internet has sorted damn near everyone into echo chambers which serve to radicalize people in a kind of snowball effect.

It's very worrying for our democracy, frankly.

[ilikeverin]

Primary elections. If you only have to appeal to the shouty, old minority of your party, the ideologies of shouty old people will win out.

[Skill and Chance]

It feels like the basic sense of political self-preservation is gone for Republicans outside of Northeast city-states and for Democrats just about everywhere in the country.