George Lakoff: No Center, No Centrists

[demobabe]

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by George Lakoff

"Centrism" is the creation of an inaccurate self-serving metaphor, and it is time to bury it.

There is no left-to-right linear spectrum in the American political life. There are two systems of values and modes of thought -- call them progressive and conservative (or nurturant and strict, as I have). There are total progressives, who use a progressive mode of thought on all issues. And total conservatives. And there are lots of folks who are what I've called "biconceptuals": progressive on certain issue areas and conservative on others. But they don't form a linear scale. They are all over the place: progressive on domestic policy, conservative on foreign policy; conservative on economic policy, progressive on foreign policy and social issues; conservative on religion, but progressive on social issues and foreign policy. No linear scale. No single set of values defining a "center." Indeed many of such folks are not moderate in their views; they can be quite passionate about both their progressive and conservative views.

Barack Obama has it right: Get rid of the very idea of the right and the left and the center. American ideas are fundamentally progressive ideas -- the ideas this country was founded on and that carry forth that spirit. Progressives care about people and the Earth, and act with responsibility and strength on that care.

The progressive view of government is simple. Progressive government has two aspects: protection and empowerment. Protection is far more than the military, police, and fire departments. It includes consumer protection, worker protection, environmental protection, public health, food and drug safety, Social Security, and other safety nets. It also includes protection from the government itself, and hence a balance of such ideas as powers, openness, and fundamental rights.

Full article here: http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1237

[John Q. Citizen]

1. This is an important article. Lakeoff is correct; There is no center and no centrists.

[demobabe]

2. I agree - very important article

I'd never thought about it the way he describes. Every time I take one of those political tests that put you on a grid, I usually end up as a "Centrist" or a bit left a bit into the "Liberal" category. I always personally saw myself as a really liberal person, but was always shocked when those tests told me somehow I was just in the middle somewhere - how boring is that?

But Lakoff is right, and it makes me mad to think that any of our Democrats could ever have voted for the Iraq war, the Patriot Act, and all those other right-wing dictator-building documents. I think most of us are 100% against many of these issues that Dems have voted for in attempts to keep their office and appeal to the supposed "Centrist" nature of the voters.

[tom_paine]

3. K & R for a VERY important article!

Let's get this to the Greatest Page!

[demobabe]

4. kick

:kick:

[Exiled in America]

5. I got to hear Lakoff speak in person at the ACLU national conference last year.

He is very, very wise on these issues. There were a few points where I disagree with some of his opinions on issue framing, but overall I think his points are incredibly important and out to be shouted from the rooftops of public political discourse.

His book, Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, is an excellent read.

[aikoaiko]

6. As a self-proclaimed centrist, I think Lakoff is wrong.

He says there is no center because there is no one set of center values. No one ever said there was and the same (diversity of views) exists at the end of the continuum too.

He says there is no center because people in the center are not always moderate but passionate about their views. I don't see what the degree of enthusiasm has anything to do with where you fall politically.

At times he even embraces the idea of a linear scale of politics, something he said doesn't exist, when he said Sharrod Brown "never moved one inch to the right."

In the end, I think Lakoff just wants Democrats to abandon the center, and sell more of his books.

[demobabe]

8. I don't think it's enthusiasm

I mean, what would a centrist view be on the Iraq War? Is there a middle ground there?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. Not On Iraq

But not all issues fit into a binary model...

[demobabe]

11. Can you give me an example of one of those issues?

I'm honestly trying to think of an issue where I'm dead center on...

Let's see, judges. I want them to uphold the laws literally instead of interpreting and ruling based on their political persuasion. But is this an issue or just the way the judicial system is supposed to properly work?

Otherwise, I really can't think of an issue offhand that I feel really "in the middle" about.

[aikoaiko]

12. I don't think its enthusiam either, but Lakoff does, in part.

I think the center is "we gave the President the benefit of the doubt, he was wrong/lied, we should stay to set up a democratic/us friendly govt, but since its going so shitty we should get out". The noncentrist positions are those who said no to the war then and now (the left), and we should stay until we get what we want (the right).

At the time of the war and well into it even after WMD a majority supported it, but now do not. Its that center that switched over. The center that Lakoff said doesn't exit. Its that center that voted for Democrats to take the take both Houses because of their dissatisfaction with the war.

Of course there is no "dead center" or of there is then very few people would occupy that single point on a continuum, but there is a mass in the middle leaning a little left and a little right who shift depending on the issues before them.

[Raksha]

7. This is a great article!

It could almost be the manifesto of a new political party...a new MAJOR political party, because it would truly represent the mainstream.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. Agree 100%...I made the same argument here over a year ago

And it was widely flamed by so-called moderates.

There is no center, and never has been. The idea that the so-called "center" is a "compromise" position between left and right extremism is absolute bullshit, and utterly self-serving, just as Lakoff says. The center is a specific position all its own, as extreme as the supposed extremes. There are only separate positions, each extreme with respect to the other. THERE IS NO POLITICAL SPECTRUM. It is a lie, and a stupid one at that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. The "center" reminds me of a newspaper ad I saw yesterday in which

one of the global warming debunkers was calling out Al Gore for "refusing to debate with him."

Scientifically, that's like a member of the Flat Earth Society calling out an astronomy professor for refusing to debate.

Morally, it's like a member of the KKK whining that African-Americans refuse to debate him about their alleged inferiority.

Sometimes there is no "center." One side is just plain WRONG.