A few days ago I posted that we need to stop talking about “balance” and stop saying that “both sides are the problem”. Today I came across an article on The American Prospect called “The Fanatics of the Center“. It made the same case that I did, with a few more examples:
Evenhandedness is the characteristic pose of centrist zealotry. Democrats and Republicans, we are told, are equally to blame for seemingly intractable national ills such as the federal deficit. But, um, wasn’t the United States running a surplus before the Bush tax cuts in 2001? Didn’t President Barack Obama last summer offer a grand bargain with major concessions on Social Security and Medicare that the House Republicans turned down?
The article says that all that compromising has done is bring politics and policy further to the right. How’s that trickle-down thingy working out for most of you? Be honest.