The rise of the abundance faction
For nearly a decade now, political moderates have been on their heels, as right-wing populists have taken the reins of the Republican Party and democratic socialists have established a beachhead in the Democratic Party. In response, startled and flailing moderates, including the authors, have grasped for institutional footholds within the two parties. Some have latched on to the idea of creating a moderate faction inside the Democratic Party with its own distinctive ideology, institutions, and sources of funding and organization. Others have given up on the two major parties and flirted with the idea of a moderate third party. We have, with some reluctance, concluded that moderation itself is a dead end. For one thing, the explicit pursuit of moderation can easily fall into the trap of simply splitting the difference between two moving goalposts rather than advancing a distinct, morally grounded policy agenda. Additionally, and just as a pragmatic matter of political organizing, it is
Hypertext | David Dagan | Substack Subscribe Sign in © 2026 Niskanen Center · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice Start your Substack Get the app Substack is the home for great culture
Explore this link on the map →related reading
- The rise of the abundance factionhypertextjournal.substack.com
- Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid - The Atlantictheatlantic.com
- The Two Kinds of Moderatepaulgraham.com
- The Abundance Agenda: Neoliberalism’s Rebrand - The American Prospectprospect.org
- Which Party Has Gotten More Extreme Faster?astralcodexten.com
- Why the Democratic Party Can’t Moderate | Compactcompactmag.com
- 12 Theses on Politics - by Matt Reardon - From Matterfrommatter.substack.com
- Varieties of Abundance - Niskanen Centerniskanencenter.org
- Politigram & the Post-left - by Joshua Citarellajoshuacitarella.substack.com
- Heroin liberals and cocaine conservativesgraymirror.substack.com
- The Party Politics of Sovereign House | The New Yorkernewyorker.com
- A New Conservative Agenda - First Thingsfirstthings.com