General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhen you say "centrist", what are you talking about the centre *of*?
"Centrist" is a much-used and much-disputed term in American politics.
Arguing that words should be defined from their etymology is a mug's game (c.f. decimae, anti-semite, glamour), but in this case I think it's probably reasonable, because most people talking about a "centrist" do have an least half an idea that they're talking about someone whose political views are in the centre of something.
What do *you* mean someone is in the centre of when you call them a centrist?
And, for bonus points, are you thinking of a mean or a median, or some other sense of the word "centre"?
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)In a two-party system, it stands to reason that the right wing of the left party and the left wing of the right party will be referred to as "centrists".
11 Bravo
(23,928 posts)would be a creature drifting in that amorphous area somewhere between The Aryan Nation and Free Republic.
Iggo
(47,578 posts)dchill
(38,562 posts)but an insincere attempt to be half reasonable and half batshit insane, usually in an attempt to gain or justify wealth accumulation. I do not think centrism is a legitimate or real thing.
quinnox
(20,600 posts)deride progressives and liberals.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)corporate state dictatorship of the 1% than the complete authoritarian-austerity dictatorship of the 1% that republicans desire.
Someone who generally supports some compassionate social policies, but whose main political focus is supporting and promoting the MIC and the continuation and expansion of rigid control of populations and governments by wealthy free market 1% capitalists.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)Regulate the injustices to lessen the effects. It is an impossible task. Injustice will win out if you play nice with it.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)cost too much or inconvenience their plans. The newly minted "independent" former republicans don't care at all, and the crazy-right wants to kill as many as possible to hasten their apocalypse.
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)someone who is either at the center of the political spectrum, or someone leaning either right or left, but not on either fringe. Whenever I hear people use the word "centrist", though, it is almost always used as a pejorative. In contrast, the word "moderate" refers to the same thing, but it is generally used in a more positive light.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)Even liberal and conservative can be very difficult to pin down. For example, some people think the ACA is extreme Marxism, while some think it is conservative. Sometimes I just think in the US liberal means you hate Republicans and conservative means you hate Democrats.
Rowdyboy
(22,057 posts)On DU it would be Dennis Kucinich.
The term means whatever you think it does.