Personnel is politics. This is the American version of the famous Soviet maxim.
The think tank “Third Way” is involved in the project. The center’s task is to select federal functionaries (mainly many hundreds of political appointees) who would correspond to centrist, moderate principles, and would not be political left-liberal activists, of whom there were too many among federal employees during the second term of Barack Obama.
Third Way communications director Kate DeGruyter told Politico: “The center left tends to win elections, but we remain in the minority the other 364 days of the year. And so we have to recognize that investment is required to make sure “It’s that the ideas that we see are popular resonate with voters and actually get implemented.”
Third Way is making these investments — instead of issuing a new series of white papers full of centrist policy proposals, it is launching a “talent bank” aimed at providing a second Biden administration or any future Democratic government with well-vetted political personnel who correspond to the moderate views of the Third Way brand. At one time, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, known for her progressive views, said: “Personnel is politics.”
This maxim (similar to the Stalinist maxim “cadres decide everything”). Now both Trumpists (I previously talked about the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025”) and moderate Democrats are trying to implement this principle.
I’ll ask a rhetorical question on my own: isn’t it too late for centrism and moderation?