It’s hard to turn the channel to a cable news station these days without hearing some conservative pundit making the claim that America is a center-right country. They have been making this claim for a long time. It is one of the core beliefs of the conservative movement stated with the same assurance given to the belief in supply-side economics. Unfortunately, for them, neither claim is valid.
One thing that I’ve come to recognize about the modern conservative movement is that the more forcefully conservatives claim something is true without offering any substantiating proof the more likely it is to be false. That’s the case with the center-right claim.
This country hasn’t been center-right for a long time. Oh sure, there are some issues that pull the electorate to the right, mainly Gays, God, and guns. However, the majority in this country favor moderate to liberal stances on almost all of the major issues. The conservatives are obviously in the denial stage of grief after losing power.
The simplest way to point out the fallacy of this argument is to point to the results of the recent election. Not only did the Democrats increase their majorities in both houses of Congress, but the electorate voted for a candidate that had been called the most liberal member of the Senate. They labeled him a socialist, even called him a Marxist, and he still won the election by a significant amount of votes. This would have been impossible in a center-right country.
The United States electorate is more progressive than conservative as shown by numerous studies and polls. A study conducted by Media Matters The Progressive Majority: Why a Conservative America is a Myth found the following:
- The role of government – Americans support an active government that tackles problems, provides services, and aids those in need.
- The economy – Americans support increasing the minimum wage and strong unions, and believe the wealthy and corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
- Social issues – Americans support legal abortion and embryonic stem cell research; opinions on equal rights for women and gay Americans have grown dramatically more progressive in recent years.
- Security – Americans support a progressive approach to national security, emphasizing strong alliances and diplomacy over the indiscriminate use of military force. On domestic security issues, progressive approaches to crime and gun control enjoy wide support.
- The environment – By enormous margins, Americans favor strong environmental protections, a core progressive belief.
- Energy – Americans support conservation and the development of alternative fuels.
- Health care – Americans clearly favor universal energy coverage and are more than comfortable with government solutions to the health care problem.
So, the actual myth is that this country is a center-right country when the opposite is the truth. Messers Barnes, Krauthammer, O’Reilly, and their ilk are wrong. The news media has fallen for this false claim made by the Right for too long. It is time to set them straight. The conservative pundits are wrong about this, just as they are wrong about so many other things. You might say the pundit class is center-wrong.
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