The Centrist Manifesto

by Charles Wheelan

Overview

A vision—and detailed road map to power—for a new party that will champion America’s rational center.

From debt ceiling standoffs to single-digit Congress approval ratings, America’s political system has never been more polarized—or paralyzed—than it is today. As best-selling author and public policy expert Charles Wheelan writes, now is the time for a pragmatic Centrist party that will identify and embrace the best Democratic and Republican ideals, moving us forward on the most urgent issues for our nation.

Wheelan—who not only lectures on public policy but practices it as well (he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2009)—brings even more than his usual wit and clarity of vision to The Centrist Manifesto. He outlines a realistic ground game that could net at least five Centrist senators from New England, the Midwest, and elsewhere. With the power to deny a red or blue Senate majority, committed Centrists could take the first step toward giving voice and power to America’s largest, and most rational, voting bloc: the center.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393346879
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/19/2013
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Charles Wheelan is the author of the best-selling Naked Statistics and Naked Economics and is a former correspondent for the Economist. He teaches public policy at Dartmouth College and lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, with his family.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Big Idea 11

Chapter 2 Government's Herculean Task 29

Chapter 3 The Best and the Worst of the Republicans and the Democrats 46

Chapter 4 The Centrist Party 72

Chapter 5 Sex and Guns 103

Chapter 6 Making It Happen: The Centrist Strategy 121

Notes 135

Editorial Reviews

"The Centrist Manifesto has helped me understand the root causes of political gridlock and why it has only gotten worse. The book also puts forth a bold new idea for how to change this."

Fortune - Michael Porter

A pragmatic argument about moving politics away from polarities and toward the moderate middle, where the author feels most voters find themselves and most solutions can be negotiated. The word "manifesto" typically generates more passion, but it's hard to rouse excitement when espousing a shift toward the center. Yet it's central to the argument by Wheelan (Public Policy/Dartmouth Coll.; Naked Statistics, 2013, etc.) that rabble-rousing emotionalism is part of the problem in American politics, where candidates in both parties feel that they must throw red meat to the extremists who are more involved in the nominating process than they are reflective of the citizenry at large. Contrary to analyses that see the country as increasingly polarized, the author suggests that most Americans are far more moderate and that they can find agreement on plenty of issues where two-party politics continues to find stalemate or gridlock. "The challenges we have to deal with as a nation are entirely manageable," he writes. "The key is to mobilize America's inner pragmatism." The strategy focuses on the Senate, where a handful of centrist legislators from swing states or a tradition of electing representatives from both parties could become power brokers, essential to the sort of compromise that reflects most Americans. Though third-party candidates haven't typically fared well, Wheelan argues that the difference here is that the centrists will come from the common-sense middle rather than the radical fringes. Leftists will have trouble swallowing his antipathy toward unions, while conservatives will find his positions on the environment and gay marriage suspect. But as he works his way through flash-point issues to consensus on abortion and guns, he strives for a rationality that all but ideologues can embrace. It's a sign of the times that this sensible plea for moderation can seem so radical.

Kirkus Reviews