I don't know how many people are aware of this, but there is a think tank out there for Centrist Republicans called the Ripon Society. The describe themselves as:
Check it out.
... a Republican public policy advocacy organization representing all Americans through moderate, progressive policy formation that uphold traditional common sense Republican principles of:They also have a downloadable magazine called Ripon Forum. It has a lot of wonkish goodies. You can read the June-July and the August-September 2007 issues, as well as any issue dating back to 1965.
- Limited but effective government;
- A free enterprise based economy;
- A strong, well-maintained, national defense;
- A more equitable tax system;
- Social tolerance;
- Conservation of natural resources.
Check it out.
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1 comment:
I don't think you can fairly describe a nearly 50-year-old organization as a new resource. The reason most Republicans will not have heard of it is that it has been largely irrelevant to GOP politics since Nixon. You'd be hard-pressed to find a single congressional Republican who could be described as a Ripon exemplar now; they're all far to the right. I can see how the Society would appeal to someone describing themselves as a neomugwump, since its primary adherents were those New England patrician Republicans from whose ranks many of the original mugwumps were drawn.
At any rate, they're worth reading but they don't represent a new trend in Republicanism; just the nostalgic glow of a time when noblesse really obliged.
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