The advantages of centrism

[CreekDog]

You can have ideals which are contradictory, but not be so wedded to them that you have to work very hard for any of them.

If you learn of a good idea, you can without hesitation, support half of it.

If you learn of a bad idea, you can without hesitation support half of it.

On particularly complicated issues, there is no need to stress, ask several well-placed pundits where the middle ground is.

Be invited on national news networks for interviews on the basis that you are "principled".

:|

[xchrom]

1. true -with the benefit that if you are a 'centrist' -- you are among those

news networks are ever going to ask for in put.

'centrists' -- more dangerous than the Tea Party since -- well since forever.

[el_bryanto]

3. Centrists are more dangerous than the Tea Party ?

That seems odd. I guess the assumption is that the Tea Party will never get to implement their ideas, while centrist keep more liberal/leftist ideas from being implemented.

Bryant

[xchrom]

5. who broke everything?

from nafta to 2 failed wars?

who broke everything? and always DEMANDS they are the only people to fix it?

'centrists'.

[el_bryanto]

6. So George W. Bush was a centrist?

I don't really see him that way.

Bryant

[reddread]

11. He didnt bring us NAFTA or telecom dereg

But dont worry Jeb will be looking very centrist with a little prep work from Poppy, Babs and the rest.

[Hydra]

12. Do the Centerists really think GWB did bad work?

Because he's still not in jail and most of his work is continuing on smoothly.

[woo me with science]

15. I have argued this for a long time.

Bush isn't a centrist. Neither is Obama. They are corporatists.

Obama has continued the vast majority of Bush's war, police state, and economic policies and expanded many of them. These policies advocated by Bush and Obama assault the very Constitution of the United States through mass surveillance, "kill lists," indefinite detention, assaults on peaceful protesters, ceding of critical national powers to corporations as through the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement, and attachment of a profit to human incarceration through growth of the private prison system.

There is nothing "centrist" about any of these policies. Both politicians are corporatists working primarily for the interests of the One Percent.

[BKH70041]

2. Isn't the political center where both parties claim that elections are won or lost?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[JHB]

4. The biggest advantage is in defining everyone else...

...as the radicals and putting the "reasonable" crown atop your own head.

[CreekDog]

7. for no other reason than you don't really stand for anything

don't get me wrong. i'm talking about a specific brand of centrism that is amoral because it's designed to be self serving for that individual.

i don't want to impugn genuine bipartisan efforts by people of strong beliefs, Ted Kennedy, for example, to fashion centrist compromises to advance some very important ideas that he cared about as a liberal.

but then, that's why Ted Kennedy was rightly seen as a liberal who could work across the aisle.

as opposed to a centrist who merely sat in one.

[hobbit709]

8. The only thing in the middle of the road is dead skunks.

[Scuba]

9. DU member RC helped explain how this works in Washington with this graphic ...

[duffyduff]

10. We don't have a "centrist" government--it is, in fact solidly right wing.

That is regardless of which party we have in control.

[Hydra]

13. +1000

And moving rightward all the time...who knows where we'll be in another year?

[woo me with science]

16. I would say more that it is corporatist.

The big corporate lie that is told to both sides, the Republican Red Team and the Democratic Blue Team, is that the Other Side is getting everything they want and are responsible for all the problems in government. We are separately propagandized in that way to keep us from realizing that the two parties, traditionally conservative versus liberal, have both been coopted by corporatists who are lying to and exploiting all of us.

Corporate Republicans lie to their base and betray it just like corporate Democrats do. Just as corporate Democrats lie and pretend to value traditional liberal-Democratic policy goals like social safety nets and public education and protecting the environment, corporate Republicans lie to their base and pretend to value traditional conservative-Republican positions like small government and individual liberty.

Then the corporatists in BOTH parties get into office and support everything nobody but the one percent wants: a mammoth, predatory corporate government, a surveillance state, and destruction/corporatization of social safety nets, schools, and the environment.

Neither traditional liberals nor traditional conservatives are happy with the government we have, because neither group has representation anymore. NONE of us are being represented. And the corporate thieves control both parties.

[bvar22]

14. CENTRISM!!!!!

Centrism....because it is so damned EASY!
You don't have to STAND for ANYTHING,
and get to insult those who DO!!!

[1000words]

17. Spot. On.

[rhett o rick]

18. The only things in the middle of the road are a yellow line and roadkill. nm

[Jamaal510]

19. I don't think centrism is that simple to describe.

In terms of good ideas and bad ideas, neither side of the spectrum has all the answers, which is why it is a stretch to say that all centrists/moderates end up with half-good ideas and half-bad ideas. Where they come in is when it is time to get things done. It is much easier to compromise with a moderate of one side or the other than someone who is further away from the center. But the problem I see is that one of our political parties is LACKING moderation and sanity, which is why we have this upcoming government shutdown. The President has been reasonable, but the extremists in the GOP have never wanted to work with him on anything, including this issue. Because of them and their unwillingness to cooperate, we have been struggling to pay our bills and fund our programs.

[IronLionZion]

20. And be the deciding vote on lots of closely divided issues

like major court cases and legislation. Centrists are more powerful than most everyone else in our political system and know it. They are also the most politically vulnerable come election time and they know it. This is a corrupting factor, yet ideologues rarely take advantage of this to corrupt them towards the liberal side. Attracting flies with honey vs vinegar and all that. Anyone who is curious about how this works should read up on why liberal California doesn't have single payer today, when they totally had the votes for it.


But don't worry. New moderate candidates can't make it through the increasingly idealogical primaries of many districts anymore for either party. And many longtime moderates have gotten primaried out or pressured into early retirement to make way for young dumb Ted Cruz types who don't know or care about consequences of being a rebel without much cause. We are seeing more elections at local and state levels where we have a very distinct difference between the candidates in the general election. This is wonderful when the liberal wins. It sucks hard when the fundie or teahadist wins. Whoever has the better operation to register and turn out votes.


Its a mixed bag. It can be a good thing to have clear principled ideologies and people who passionately fight for them to produce positive major reforms. But then there's our completely useless US congress where even basic legislation is never going to get passed anytime soon because of teahadists fighting to the death for their very different principles. Some of them seriously believe they are brave revolutionary patriots for blocking everything.

[sufrommich]

21. Didn't Ted Cruz pretty much make this same argument

aimed at republicans the other day? Yes,he did.

[CreekDog]

22. show me the quote