Why the reference to the wings in re the two major political parties? Are we being asked to envision either of our two major political parties as a bird, an aircraft. If so, each would surely have two matching wings, one on either side of the body/fuselage. Maybe they meant to make an analogy with the sides of an aisle in a room, or the banks of a river as in rive gauche or rive droite, or to those seated on the far left hand side of the room or on the far right hand side of the room from the front? All, implying that there is a body politic made up of members from both parties that is pretty much in the center of wherever. Sounds nice, but has nothing whatsoever to do with today’s politics. How many Republican members of the House could be
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Why the reference to the wings in re the two major political parties? Are we being asked to envision either of our two major political parties as a bird, an aircraft. If so, each would surely have two matching wings, one on either side of the body/fuselage. Maybe they meant to make an analogy with the sides of an aisle in a room, or the banks of a river as in rive gauche or rive droite, or to those seated on the far left hand side of the room or on the far right hand side of the room from the front? All, implying that there is a body politic made up of members from both parties that is pretty much in the center of wherever. Sounds nice, but has nothing whatsoever to do with today’s politics.
How many Republican members of the House could be considered centrists? The majority of those who opposed bringing charges against Trump in either of the two impeachment hearings? The 147 out of 197 House Republicans who voted against certifying Biden’s electoral college victory? 50 out of 197 does not a centrist majority make; but it might a start. 147 out of 197 does a right wing majority make. Someone should be asking, “Who are, where are, all these centrist Republicans we hear spoken of?”
In the Senate, it is politics uber alles for Senate Republicans. Most of whom almost always do what Mitch McConnell asks/tells them to do; Mitch being constituent to none of them excepting maybe Rand, son of Ron. What do the Senators’ actual constituents think of their Senator working for someone else? Out of the 53, only three or four have even pretended to have a mind of their own. Turns out, only two or three ever really did. These are they who would have gleefully convicted a Democratic President for sneezing or forgetting to wash their hands. Almost all of the Senators from red states support the NRA, the Second Amendment, Pro-life, increased defense spending, and suppressing the non-white-Christian vote. Sound centrist to you? It is almost impossible to name a Republican Senator who isn’t far to the right of any definable center.
The party aligns itself with the Heritage Foundation (recently caught on tape bragging that it had helped write or written the voter suppression laws being proposed in 40 states) and the Federalists Society; two organizations that are definitely not centrist. Does a party mostly made up of the Christian Right, Libertarian conservatives, Neoconservatives, Paleoconservatives, Traditional conservatives, the Freedom Caucus, and the Tea Party sound centrist?
What would a centrist/moderate Republican politician look like? Would they be known as left wing Republicans and support such as the right to vote, gun control, a woman’s right to chose? Any American’s right to any thing other than to own a gun, or perhaps to buy a politician or two? Would they be someone who is of this century? Someone who looks to the future instead of to the past? Someone who subscribes to equality? Who favors a more egalitarian society?
Today’s Republican party is the very definition of right wing.