Modern Whig party
The Modern Whig party is an incredibly marginal American political party founded in 2007. Its stated position is based on pragmatic, fiscally moderate, centrist, syncretic politics. They claim that they are the inheritors of the old Whig party tradition -- though whether that means they'll keep the gag rule concerning slavery remains to be seen. Although they are socially moderate, the party manifesto does call for an increase in science spending, which means they may not just be another bunch of wingnuts. Their "stands" sort of run this way:
- "FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY — The Modern Whig philosophy is to empower the states with the resources to handle their unique affairs.
- ENERGY INDEPENDENCE — Reduce dependence on foreign oil by developing practical sources of alternative energy. This will have the simultaneous effect of changing the national security dynamic.
- EDUCATION/SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENT — Increased public and private emphasis on fields such as space, oceanic, medical and nanotechnology. Also, providing common-sense solutions to enhance our educational system from pre-school to university-level studies.
- STATES RIGHTS — Each state can generally determine its course of action based on local values and unique needs.
- SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE — Government should refrain from legislating morality.
- VETERANS AFFAIRS — Vigilant advocacy relating to the medical, financial, and overall well-being of our military families and veterans."[1]
In essence, all of their stances amount to populist tropes, with the punting to the states on truly hard questions. On the few places where they buck the "populist" wisdom (such as immigration), they tend to split the difference and go with the conventional wisdom. (On immigration, it amounts to "throw 'em out, but don't spend money looking for 'em.") While some would call them "insane," really it is just an attempt to build a centrist party in a system that (due to its first past the post system) instead rewards large coalition parties that are nevertheless distinct. The fact that Congress currently is "perfectly sorted" (meaning the most conservative Democrat is more liberal than the most liberal Republican) means that this party will likely never get anywhere.
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[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ http://www.modernwhig.org/issues.html - apologies, the allcaps are in the original, sadly.