This "center-right" meme has gotten old, but it yields an unwitting tool for progressives to take that talking point and use it to further our own cause. More importantly, I suggest a possible effective response to disarm this talking point and redirect debate in our favor.
More importantly, I am sick and tired of conservative-hawked thought terminating cliches being used by republican shills to co opt the words used in political debate. If we cede the words used in the debate, we cede the debate, because we'll be defined right out of existence.
The conservative right, who are distinguished in large part by indoctrination and a lack of critical thinking skills, are pushing the meme that the US is a center-right country to argue that the new administration should govern with a right-leaning agenda. Like most conservative talking points, they are not thought out particularly well, and lend themselves adoption by progressives to turn to our own use.
First, could there be truth to the idea that we're a center-right country? This begs a very simple question: Where and what is the center?
The US center: The conservative right has done a good job of weaponizing dysphemisms and standing up straw men against progressive causes. However, with the exception of the straw-man wording, polls show the US population in general is supportive of progressive reforms on most issues. To wit, universal health care:
http://www.cbsnews.com/...
This means that the center, in terms of the US population as a whole, is moderate-progressive. It is telling that conservatives are proportionately overrepresented in government, in large part due to their political tactics of diverting the debate away from substantive issues.
The world center: We are the only developed nation in the world that does not guarantee full-spectrum health care to its citizens. In developed nations, we guarantee freedoms with firearms rare to nonexistent in the rest of the developed world. We have some of the most restrictive alcohol, drug, and criminal codes in the developed world. Even if we brought our laws in line with the views of the nation as a whole, we would still be somewhat more conservative than our developed counterparts.
What does this mean for how the new administration should govern? And more importantly, how should we present this to moderate conservatives and moderate progressives?
The snap response I raise in the face of the center-right meme is this: Yes, we are a slightly center-right country, but if we look at where the center is, it's a lot farther to the left than neocons would care to admit, and so is the country as a whole. (lead into the comparison with the rest of the developed world or the discussion of the us population's viewpoints).
This implies that the new administration, by pushing for progressive reforms, is actually governing from the 'center'. This is how the new administration should be both presented and defended. Accusations of pushing a "left leaning agenda" should be countered with the principle of "the will of the people". Polls and data are, of course, plentiful to back this up, and as we saw this election cycle, facts beat ideology for moderates. By shifting the debate from demagogue-shilled ideology to defining the "center" in terms of the viewpoints of substantive issues disarms this meme and shifts the playing field to progressive advantage.