Why Centrists.Org?
Revised 6/23/2003

Responsibility, Reform, and Public Trust.

Centrists.Org was founded by Jeff Lemieux and Maya MacGuineas in 2003 to develop practical, ambitious policy solutions to important national problems. 

America faces political gridlock, especially on the toughest issues:  entitlement reform, universal health coverage, long-term budget deficits, and economic policy.

Political gridlock is bad for struggling economies.  For example, Japan’s consensus-based and slow moving political system could not effectively respond to the banking problems revealed when the Japanese stock and real estate markets crashed in the early 1990s.  As a result, the Japanese economy stagnated, and years later, is only starting to recover.

The U.S faces a different kind of gridlock caused by the polarization of our political climate.  Political gerrymandering of legislative districts into “safe seats” for either party has effectively shut out the political voice of independent and moderate voters -- the real majority of the electorate.  Republicans directly attack their moderates with television ads and primary challenges financed by extremist groups.  Democrats don’t directly attack their centrists in primaries; instead, Democratic legislative leaders undermine their moderates by forcing them into political votes untenable back home.

Extreme political polarization has grave consequences.  Democrats rarely talk seriously about the need for Medicare or Social Security reform.  They deride attempts to rationalize the federal-state Medicaid entitlement.  Democratic budget policy is dominated by demands for more spending and public programs; however, the wisdom of that spending is infrequently questioned.  Reforms are seen as threats.  Moving government toward a performance basis (instead of a regulatory mentality) is seen as a threat to public employee unions.  Shifting to a more equitable and predictable liability system is seen as a threat to trial lawyers.

Meanwhile, Republicans have taken “supply side” economic claims to absurd extremes.   Republican orthodoxy now states that cutting taxes (especially for businesses and high-income taxpayers) is always and everywhere the best policy, regardless of the circumstances.  It doesn’t matter that sometimes tax cuts don’t seem to work, or that the deficits they create (combined with entitlement costs) are poised to crush the next generations of Americans under a mountain of public debt.

Both parties are preoccupied by political warfare.  At this point, legislative leaders on both sides rarely even pretend to favor working together to solve important problems.

Often the parties seem determined to NOT solve problems.  Instead, both parties want issues kept on the table indefinitely.  By keeping issues alive, the parties can differentiate their ideology, raise money, fire up their core constituencies, and conduct partisan or media battles.  To our national shame, solving problems isn’t the real political goal.

There is a longstanding reform movement within the Democratic party.  The “New Democrats” of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and its affiliated think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), generally favor market solutions, trade, and government reform within progressive politics.  The New Democrat Network (NDN) is a PAC for New Democrat candidates.  Conservative Democrats in the House have formed the Blue Dog coalition, which is especially active and successful in budget dealings.

Moderate Republicans have also organized a coalition and PAC, the Republican Main Street Partnership.  It has been moderately successful recently in trimming the size of the Administration’s most expensive tax cut plans.

These centrist political movements have great potential.  But they need help, especially in policy matters.  So far, centrists on both sides of the aisle have had difficulty finding common issues and practical policy proposals to unite behind.

We need an organization specifically dedicated to developing commonsense proposals to address the most difficult issues facing the country:  the issues that can only be resolved through national consensus and bipartisan cooperation. 

We have real and very difficult problems to solve.  Overseas, we face years of sustained commitment of American time, lives, and treasure to prevent terrorism and weapons proliferation.  Domestically, we face a new health care crisis, a suddenly grave long-term deficit outlook, a looming wave of entitlement costs as the baby boom generation retires, and an economy that needs a spark of optimism and confidence.

Centrists.Org is devoted to finding solutions to our most pressing problems.  It is a non-partisan, non-profit educational think tank committed to improving America’s health, fostering personal savings and wealth, preserving generational equity and opportunity, and promoting fiscally sound, empowering government.

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