Riddle me this, Batman. If your political party absorbs roughly a quarter

[Skidmore]

of the opposition and you become the majority party, do you govern more to the left or the center?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. We don't like the idea that we aren't really the base. (nt)

[SteppingRazor]

2. Answer: You govern. Period. And it ain't pretty. n/t

[Taverner]

3. See PRI in Mexico

Look at their history. They were a one party state, not by rule but such be de facto.

Do you like what you see?

[JHB]

4. Invalid question: there are more political directions than "left" and "right"...

...not to mention that one would have to define exactly what those terms mean before you could get a legitimate answer.

It also doesn't allow for leadership and making a solid case to the public to shift those definitions.

[MineralMan]

5. You try to implement as much of your program as you can.

But, almost half the country is opposed to what you propose, so it's all and nothing. If you insist on all, you end up with nothing. If you insist on what your base wants, you end up with nothing. If you compromise in any way, the base hates you and runs primary candidates against you and you end up with nothing. If you don't compromise with the moderates on the other side, you lose your seat in two years and end up with nothing.

The best you can do is get some of what you want. You will never get it all. That's governing in a constitutional representative republic. Want to get everything you want? You need a dictatorship. No dictatorship? You just get part of what you want.

[redqueen]

14. And I'd add that the part that you get

won't be the way you'd like it. Hopefully it'll be close.

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. Allow me to make an analogy here....

Let's say you planned to move to a foreign country. Japan, for instance.

Should you learn Japanese, or expect everyone there to learn English so they can talk to you?

Nobody's saying you shouldn't be welcome in Japan, but it's reasonable that you should speak the language and observe the customs of that country.

Same should apply when you join a "foreign" political party.

[kenfrequed]

11. An interesting analogy.

I rather like it.

One should not switch parties merely for political convenience *cough cough* Norm Colemna *cough* but should actually have some belief in the tennets of the party you are switching to.

[JackRiddler]

7. Why did a quarter of "the opposition" shift to "your party"?

They may have decided they would like what they thought they were going to get. They might be disappointed when they instead get the same thing they were getting from their prior party.

I love an abstract, platitude-based, faux-sneaky and oh so wise pitch for loyalty to whatever concept is currently being pushed as "center" or "realism," which will persuade no one of anything.

But for fun let's rephrase your question: Support for your party grows dramatically. Do you treat that as more support, or as a reason to surrender your agenda altogether?

[kenfrequed]

12. Agreed again.

I agree completely. A movement towards the democratic party is not done by the average voter in hopes of moving the democratic party to the right. It is because people have tired of conservative and/or economic libertarianism and want change.

The meme that you are responding to is a typical conservaDem, blue dog, DLC construct that doesn't take reality into consideration at all.

[JackRiddler]

13. Why do parties and other political organizations even exist?

You wrote, "The meme that you are responding to is a typical conservaDem, blue dog, DLC construct that doesn't take reality into consideration at all."

Yes.

In fact, it defines reality through a set of permanent, unchangeable demographics -- "red" and "blue" states, "urban" and "suburban," "conservative" and "liberal" (the latter viewed almost as personality types), income and family-status categories, religious status.

It seems blind to the constant, historic role of both change and agency (free will). Societies change and people change, in part because they choose to change. Effective parties understand themselves as mechanisms of change, and not as catering services for a collection of market niche-groups (most of which are projected categories).

The way to win support for an agenda is to announce that agenda and argue for it, convince people.

If you conservative Democrats don't want to support that agenda yourself, then don't pretend it's only because you think "it can't win."

It's because you don't believe in it. So be honest.

[lonestarnot]

15. Hell no! They should have known what they were getting into before they came over here.

[bsd13]

8. You start by asking yourself

did my party absorb them because they agree with my parties principles, or did my party absorb them because they're mad at the other party and want to prove a point? Once you're straight on what happened you can determine where to govern from.

[XemaSab]

9. +1

and welcome to DU. :hi:

[noiretextatique]

10. if you have no principles

you govern from the center until you are roadkill.