Representative-ness. That the governmental powers should reflect the will of the people in some aggregate sense. As democratic (small “d”) as a functional government can be.
If so, more power to Stark. I don’t agree with a lot of what he says, but he’s a fellow UU.
And one example belies your claim that there are no examples.
One other area I think we can agree on is that there are certain things that a government not only can do better than the private sector, but should do. Roads and defense being the usually cited things that most folks agree on.
Many of us, Democrat and Republican alike, would be happier if we didn’t have to see the jaws of politicians being pulled by strings held by major corporations, many of them from extractive and/or exploitative industries. Even if you’re OK with extractive and/or exploitative industries, having to watch your elected officials take the floor to speak, failing to even bother wiping the corporate spoo off their chins, is pretty annoying.
If I understand your OP, you seemed to be asking for common issues that both Dems and Repubs can agree on. I happen to believe that having one’s politicians bought and paid for by corporates is something many people from both parties dislike.
I don’t want Bill Gates beheaded; I would like for large corporate entities to not have more influence on the officials the people elected than the people themselves.
There are a lot of things that moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans want in common. The wingnuts in either party might object, but I’d say that Jane Average in each party would like to see:
Social mobility–if you work hard you can get ahead
Good schools
Safe neighborhoods
Support for small businesses
It’s the means towards these that differ, not the ends.
Let’s distinguish between platitudes and actual policies. Everyone says they’re in favor of freedom - but the devil is in the details. Are they in favor of the freedom to own guns? Are they in favor of the freedom to marry somebody of the same gender? Find me people that say yes to both of those questions and then I’ll start to believe they really support freedom. But most people believe freedom means the freedom to do the things they agree with.
I would wager that, once the scare rhetoric from extreme groups is ignored, most Republicans and most Democrats would agree that immigration laws and spolicies should reflect reality more. Business owners would like inexpensive labor to be legally mainstreamed (even if that would make it a bit less inexpensive), compassionate folks want newer Americans to be treated well, and even many “American”-culture-comes-first folks recognize that assimilation is more likely when one’s presence is legally sanctioned. And, since both Republicans and Democrats must agree that our aging, retiring labor force is becoming an economic problem, they both agree that young, vigorous injections into the labor pool is necessary. Even some law-and-order folks see the benefits of synchronizing immigration law and reality.
