Our Voice: In time of extremes, more moderate voices will save us

The moderate politician appears to be an increasingly endangered species and that’s a bad sign for all of us.

On the national scene it seems that only those with nothing left to lose, such as retiring GOP Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee or Arizona Sen. John McCain — who has successfully beaten back previous election challenges from left and right and is now waging a battle with brain cancer — are willing to raise their voices against transgressions they see by their party’s leader, President Donald Trump.

Democrats, meanwhile, seem content to bide their time until the 2018 elections in anti-Trump solidarity, with just the occasional foray into bipartisan efforts, and these done on their terms only.

“But that’s just the nature of national politics in today’s fairly evenly divided America,” you might say. You can look to California to see the trend much closer to home.

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Assembly Republican Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley, whose district covers western portions of the Coachella Valley, blasted his own party recently for inviting Steve Bannon — former top adviser to President Trump and right wing provocateur — to address the Oct. 20-22 state GOP convention.

“I was shocked by today's announcement by the CRP (California Republican Party).” Mayes posted on Twitter. “It's a huge step backward and demonstrates that the Party remains tone deaf.

“The last 2 years, the CRP was committed to become a viable entity capable of connecting with ordinary Californians on issues they care about. As in life, you can't have it both ways and today's announcement made clear the direction the party wants to go,” Mayes wrote in another tweet.

The second-term Republican, who has worked across the aisle in the past, stepped down as Assembly Republican Leader last month under fire from his own side for working with Democrats to renew the state’s cap-and-trade program. Mayes had secured items long-sought by the GOP in those negotiations, but hard-line Republicans demanded his ouster anyway.

Two Republicans, including former Palm Springs Police Chief Gary Jeandron, have announced they’ll challenge Mayes in next year’s GOP primary.

It’s not just relatively moderate Republicans who are under fire in the Golden State, however. Despite controlling virtually every lever of power in Sacramento and dominating the congressional delegation, Democrats in true-blue California are waging their own political purity battles.

The Riverside County Democratic Party earlier this month replaced Chairman Howard Katz with Steve Ruth, who enjoyed the backing of more progressive pro-Bernie Sanders delegates in a 30-21 vote.

“I think there’s room for everyone — for the people who’ve been around a long time and the Democratic structure,” Ruth told The Desert Sun’s Jesse Marx. “But we also need to open our arms to the new people, many of whom are ‘Berniecrats.’ ”

Further up the food chain, Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced last week via Twitter that she would seek re-election in 2018. Many had expected the 84-year-old, first elected in 1992, to follow former peer Barbara Boxer into retirement.

Though a Public Policy Institute of California poll in September found 50 percent of likely California voters said Feinstein should not seek another term, we doubt she’s too worried. Still, voices from the most progressive elements of the party have been urging her to opt out.

Some say she should “pass the torch” to California’s deep bench of younger Democratic leaders and move into a mentoring role. Others are more blunt, essentially accusing the centrist San Francisco icon of party treason for everything from her support of the USA-PATRIOT Act to recent comments that the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program might be on shaky legal ground and that Donald Trump “can be a good president.”

State Senate Leader Kevin de Leon, who has entered the race and who many are putting in an all-Democrat election against her for the seat next November, has indicated he’ll take it to Feinstein from the left.

“We don’t owe Trump patience,” de Leon, who because of term limits can’t run for re-election to the state Senate, told the Los Angeles Times before making his official announcement. “We owe Californians resistance.”

So even here in deep-blue California, controlling Democrats are fighting wars that could push the party further to the left, quashing more moderate voices.

Not all is lost, however.

Though Democratic Party registration has risen as GOP ranks have fallen, Californians who identify as independent (officially No Party Preference) are also growing in number.

According to the Public Policy institute of California, the state’s 19.4 million registered voter population breaks down as 44.8 percent Democrat, 25.9 percent Republican and 24.5 percent NPP. While those August figures represent a 0.9-percentage-point rise for Democratic registration compared to 2013 (the year before the most recent midterm election), NPP registration went up 3.6 percentage points.

Clearly the Democratic Party is the big dog in California. The trend of increasing NPP registration should be seen as a boon for everyone, however, regardless of their personal affiliation.

Why? Because both parties will need to account for independent sensibilities in their political calculus as NPP numbers continue to rise. This should help keep more extreme views from gaining too much sway in either major party.

America doesn’t live in either extreme; neither do the residents of California. Working together is what makes us great and that is why our society must always ensure there is room for the moderate voices that reside in the middle.