The Emerging Western Democrats

By Ed Gogek

As the nation's political parties change, western Democrats are becoming a distinct branch, very different from their eastern liberal cousins. Out West, Democrats are pro-gun and against tax hikes. They have a live-and-let-live attitude that grows out of the West's libertarian values.

Meanwhile, western Republicans have moved further right. The defeat last month of Bill Whalen, and the close races of moderate incumbents Carolyn Allen and Tom O'Halleran, show that the extreme right dominates Republican primaries.

Thirty years of polling by the Pew Research Foundation shows that, while political parties have changed, the American people haven't. When asked to characterize their own political views, Americans are roughly 20 percent liberal, 30 percent conservative and 50 percent moderate. And that's exactly what we've said in polls done every four years since 1976.

Of course, not every state is exactly 20-30-50. New England is more liberal and the South and West more conservative. But moderates are major players everywhere, which explains an anomaly.

Why is it that liberal Massachusetts has a Republican governor, while Montana and Arizona —states that vote solidly red for President— now elect Democrats? The answer is all those moderates.

In Massachusetts , liberals dominate the Democratic Party, while conservatives are a smaller percentage. So moderate candidates, who can't win in Democratic primaries, run as Republicans. In Massachusetts , a race between an extreme liberal and a moderate can go either way. So one of the country's most liberal states often elects Republicans.

The West is the mirror image. Pulled by extreme conservatives who dominate their primaries, Republicans have moved to the right while Democrats have taken the political center. And many Republicans find themselves more at home with Arizona 's Democratic candidates. As one unhappy Republican said, “I didn't leave my party; my party left me.”

In this realignment, the parties have sometimes swapped positions. Democrats now want to balance budgets, keep government out of people's lives, and avoid foolish attempts at nation-building. Democrats are finding inexpensive solutions to keep budgets in line. One of Governor Napolitano's notable achievements was turning the billion dollar deficit she inherited into a billion dollar surplus, without raising taxes. This type of frugality has become the norm for Democrats in the West.

On the other hand, with programs like ‘No Child Left Behind,' Republicans are now the party of unfunded mandates. The spending on Iraq and Medicare Part D has turned them into the party of big government. And their willingness to spend without oversight on Halliburton and FEMA makes them seem wasteful.

The difference is even more pronounced in the legislative races. Republicans, who have dominated Arizona's legislature for twelve years, spent the last session debating whether women could sell their eggs, banning gay marriage, and demanding vouchers for religious schools—all important issues to the extreme right. Democrats are running on public education, health care, water supplies, unplanned growth, renewable energy and crystal meth. Except for immigration, the two parties aren't even focused on the same issues. And many traditional, fiscally conservative Republicans are finding the old choices no longer so clear-cut.

If they vote Democratic this year, it doesn't mean Arizona has changed. What has changed are the political parties, especially the new breed of western Democrats.

Ed Gogek is the Democratic candidate for State Senate in District 4. His website is votegogek.com.