Arlen Specter: Remembering a Thoughtful Centrist

This editorial appeared originally in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  It suggests that the best thing we can do to remember Specter is to vote.  I would add that, in the process, we should take care to avoid extremists and vote in people who can be trusted to focus on solving problems rather than standing behind radical ideologies.  We need big ideas, but we also need to work together as a community.

Over the past decade, the Republican party became so beholden to extremists--whether it be the Tea Party or billionaires with a personal agenda--that Specter could no longer find a place in that party.  We need to encourage both parties to run candidates who have good ideas, but who can work in the middle and not pander to extremists.  That--in addition to voting--would be the best way to honor Specter.

Editorial | Arlen Specter: Farewell to a fighter | Opinion | CentreDaily.com

Deliberate Democracy

Focus on Research | Citizens at state and local levels show real success in deliberating issues | Living | CentreDaily.com

Today, as we mourn the death of Senator Arlen Specter, one of the last true centrists in the U.S. Congress, I was very pleased to see this article about the use of citizen panels to deliberate on major policy issues in Oregon.  The idea that we can make better public policy decisions when we deliberate over the issues instead of simply hearing testimony before acting on ideology, is a lesson to all of us, at every level of public life.   We should demand of our leaders a "deliberate democracy" instead of a polarized debate.