THE CENTRIST SOLUTION

A longtime senator and former vice presidential nominee suggests a way to make government work.

Former Connecticut senator Lieberman draws on his 40-year career to advocate for centrism as a way to overcome insidious partisanship. “America’s freedom, security, and prosperity,” he writes, “depend on a healthy political center, a center that avoids chaotic and self-destructive extremes and instead produces progress and stability.” Reprising successes and failures, he ends each chapter with “Lessons for Centrists.” The passage of the Clean Air Act in 1990, for example, taught him that “sometimes a higher purpose can motivate great legislative accomplishments.” The act received bipartisan support because most members of Congress “could see that the result of not doing so would be thousands of premature deaths in America and the destruction of some beautiful natural resources.” As a freshman senator, Lieberman joined the Democratic Leadership Council, whose aims were “to move the Democratic Party back to the center” and “to reconnect the Party to middle-class America.” The author praises Bill Clinton for his alliance with Newt Gingrich, enabling passage of the Balanced Budget Act and Criminal Justice Reform Bill. Lieberman’s reputation as a centrist made Al Gore tap him as running mate, and Gore’s loss taught Lieberman that the Electoral College needs to be repealed. Partisanship—fueled by Gore’s defeat—deepened after the 9/11 attacks and has not abated. After losing a primary in 2006, Lieberman learned “that American politics had changed.” As an Independent, he won reelection: “Third parties,” he writes, “are a good way to disrupt the partisan duopoly of Democrats and Republicans.” He now serves as chair of No Labels, an organization founded in 2010, which endorses centrist candidates and has given rise to the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus. Centrism, he concedes, “is not a new wonder drug” but a possible step to functioning government.

A heartfelt plea to legislators and the constituents who elect them.