Elizabeth Warren versus Ted Cruz? Not likely. Only the most extraordinary circumstances could produce this improbable contest for the presidency in 2016.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was the first to declare his candidacy for the Republican nomination, but his hardcore ideology and abrasive manner make him unlikely to be chosen by calmer heads closer to the center of his party.
And despite persistent efforts by left-wing Democrats to change her mind, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is emphatic in her refusal to run for the office.
Still, consideration of the remote possibility that these two could face off for the presidency brings this question into sharp relief: What kind of country are we?
Filmmaker Michael Moore has an opinion. In a chapter titled “A Liberal Paradise,” from his book “Dude, Where’s My Country,” he argues that the United States is a “land of liberal-lefty peacenik tree-huggers.”
Moore builds his case on polls taken by Harris, Gallup, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard and even Fox News. He argues that on a wide variety of issues — from abortion to gun control to the environment to health care — Americans lean much more to the left than to the right.
Moore’s book was published in 2003, so his statistics are out of date, but many of the attitudes they reflect are probably durable, and on some issues they may now trend even further to the left.
For example, The Washington Post reported last month that 59 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, and half believe that the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection gives gays and lesbians the right to marry. We’re trending left on this issue.
In fact, I suspect that many Americans are currently as concerned about other issues ordinarily associated with the left — marijuana legalization and the environment, for example — as they were in 2003, if not more so.
But statistics take us only so far. Although the word “liberal” has been demonized by the right, on many issues Americans’ attitudes tend to the political left, even if they often conflict with what Americans say and how they vote.
Big government versus small government? Small government, of course. But we like the security, stability and benefits that result from the collective energy of a government that provides services beyond the capacity of private enterprise. We like having police officers and firefighters, good schools and the most powerful military in the world. We like good highways, and we like being able to drink out of any tap in the U.S. without having to worry about contracting cholera.
High taxes versus low taxes? Low taxes, of course. But even if we don’t always realize it (“Keep your government hands off of my Medicare!”), we also like the social safety net — as porous as it is.
Generalizing a little, conservatism hopes to restore a fondly remembered past; liberalism imagines that public policy can be wielded to improve the future. Maybe the best we can do lies somewhere in between.
Which may explain why we’ll probably be treated to a conventional Hillary Clinton vs. Jeb Bush presidential battle that, no matter how it turns out, won’t provide much chance for real change.
Too bad. The improbable Warren vs. Cruz contest would tell us a lot more about who we really are.
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