What Passes for a Giant Nowadays

George Will recently profiled Massachusetts Representative Jake Auchincloss, a centrist Democrat. He began his column by admonishing that party that if it wants a future, it "should be based on candidates who understand that U.S. politics, when healthy, takes place between the 40-yard lines."

That is a not-unreasonable position, and the column is quite interesting both for where Will goes in his profile, and where he doesn't.

On the good side of the ledger -- and this is why I say Auchincloss is what passes for a giant these days -- Will offers the following:

Auchincloss's (and [Rahm] Emanuel's) proposals involve thorny philosophical, constitutional, legal and practical problems. But leave aside the wisdom or feasibility of his desired policies. He is exemplary because he talks about topics that resonate with centrist voters, using sometimes surprising language (see above: guns) to persuade the probably 80 percent of Americans who are not communicants in the Church of Progressivism. [bold added]

Yes. I hesitate to count hard-core MAGA voters as persuadable for the same reason Will writes off "progressives," but his point stands. In today's political climate, hearing a politician pitch an argument to my mind, rather than assume that I am a tribalist dolt who wants red meat, would be a very welcome change of pace.

More of this, regardless of position, please!

Will's apprehension about "the wisdom or feasibility of his desired policies" sufficiently covers the bad, as far as Will takes it.

That said, we would still have a problem even if we had more centrist politicians who used words to persuade voters, and that is with centrism itself.

Auchincloss proposes a 50 percent tax on [social media] companies' advertising revenue over $2.5 billion to help finance "1,000 new trade schools across the country." This is a timely proposal: While the Trump administration is deporting workers, Ford Motor's CEO Jim Farley laments that the nation has "over a million openings in critical jobs, emergency services, trucking, factory workers, plumbers, electricians and tradesmen." [bold added]

I bet lots of voters -- including Progressive and MAGA lunatics -- would agree with George Will that taxing the hell out of social media companies is a great idea, and that's a huge problem. The Overton Window -- of alternatives most people do not deem radical -- is so skewed towards paternalism and against freedom that few people would see this "timely" proposal as the completely unacceptable violation of rights that it is.

We would remain in grave danger of voting ourselves into slavery even if the likes of Auchincloss became more numerous, but Will is absolutely correct that we'd be better off. Centrism isn't the road to freedom, but civil debate offers us hope of finding the way.

-- CAV