Or Why We Hate Labels……….
College of Political Knowledge
Subject: Political Science/Political Theory/
Lecture
We hear daily, especially if you are a political junkie, that the country is a centrist country, wither center right or center left, and that we all are that with a few exceptions of those lunatics on the far right and far left…..most media pundits say that we move to the center after each election, because that is where most Americans are located…is that true?
Centrists are fence sitters……most Americans are fence sitters….ergo, most Americans are centrists
You may think about it for a long time, but the answer will always be the same……yes we are….we are a centrist people…..but why are we a centrist people? It is NOT because of the thinking of the people….but rather the political system that forces us to be centrist….yes I said forces…..why?
The two party system comes to mind first……the voter has NO choice beyond Dem or Repub….any other choice and it is marginalized by the media so that the two parties may continue their strangle hold on the electorate….
Rhetoric may be Left or Right, but action is almost always center….very few exceptions…….and then there this new movement of centrists or moderates, if you will….No Labels, they call themselves…..they do not want to be put into a certain ideologue camp………they are CENTRISTS!……..but think about that for a moment….(pause here for reflection)…….
Here is Nolabels.org statement of purpose:
- Americans are entitled to a government and a political system that works – driven by shared purpose and common sense.
- Americans deserve a government that makes the necessary choices to rein in runaway deficits, secure Social Security and Medicare, and put our country on a viable, sound path going forward.Americans support a government that works to spur employment and economic opportunity by encouraging free and open markets, tempered by sensible regulation.
- Americans want a government that empowers people with the tools for success – from a world-class education to affordable healthcare – provided that it does so in a fiscally prudent way.
- America should be free from discrimination and should embrace the principle of equal opportunity.
- America must be strong and safe, ready and able to protect itself in a world of multiple dangers and uncertainties.
Holy crap! What novel ideas! Sounds like every other party and their statement of principles…..where is this any different than the crap we live with now? Just looks like another PAC that is seeking money to advance their ideas and their candidates….none of it sounds anywhere near a new idea…..
A new organization of centrists that will NOT be labeled…..fine, but first…..
Sorry guys….that is a LABEL!
You may call yourself a conservative or a liberal (present day progressive)….but that is all it is a title that bestowed on yourself to explain, to try to explain, why you feel or believe the way that you do. Below the rhetoric, we all are centrists….it is NOT a special movement afoot….it has been that way since the beginning in 1787 and we just enforce that center path with our choices…….
These so-called centrists want us to believe that there is another way of governance, other than the two party system….there is Not…why? Because we are all centrists…….we have always been a centrists country……
This effort kinda remains me of another con job, Unity ’08, it was a “movement” of moderates to find a better way than the two parties….but it was mostly to raise money and to try and get Bloomberg to run….nothing about issues other than some vague concept of working together…….a con job will always be a con job…..smells more like a money scam…….
Hmm… in my opinion, there is of course something in what you say, but then there is some truth in some sense in almost everything that everyone says – always!
However, I think you are wrong with regard to what being a centrist is all about. It is NOT sitting on the fence, it is (for those who truly ARE centrists) about putting the country first. The ideas of the left, just as the ideas of the right are indeed as you say ideologies, but ideologies really only become applicable in what those people regard as an ideal world – whereas in fact (again in my opinion) ideologies are all BS based on quicksand because they require reality to be suspended.
Look at it this way, without knowing you personally, I can guarantee that what I want ISN’T what YOU want, but then our circumstances differ. The point of centrism is that, in order to benefit the vast majority of the people – i.e. the country – it is essential that there is compromise and moderation in almost all things. THAT is not possible whilst following a rigid ideology!
The rich should not indeed in my opinion be as powerful as they are in the US, but the needs of the poor should not be as all important as I think you feel they should be either. Therefore, the fairest way is to achieve the best balance one can between the two. However, NEITHER of those two should be as important as the interests of the VAST majority who are neither rich nor poor – those two groups, whatever you personally think, are the extremes, the minorities. There is NO ideology that fits or is applicable to the middle ground and therefore no ideology can ever apply to the majority – in fact, the majority aren’t even interested in ideologies and why SHOULD they be since THEY will be the losers, whichever one gains ground.
In truth I think the political system does the reverse of pushing people towards the centre and in fact polarises the voters. Most people are pretty much moderates, but, as I’ve said before, tend to want to change the current (WHOEVER that is) failed administration and that means voting for the opposition – whoever THAT is!
I do not think that the system drives people to the extremes……I I feel that it makes them settle for an option that they may not want…..I can handle moderates….you can be a moderate without giving up on your principles……like if I think that raising taxes is the way to make the country better and stick to it and work for a more equal code, but settle for smaller than desired increase….I have not abandoned the principle just compromised a bit to make the whole a better entity……
I realize that my personal filter may be getting in the way….but that happens to all of us from time to time……
Excatly and I agree with you, but that’s the point I’m making – your ideology expects that the rich will pay, whereas the ideology of the right expects that everyone else will pay including the poor, whereas the fair option is really somewhere in the middle and that’s what the MAJORITY of people will agree with, be they rich, poor or in between. The trouble is that the system DOES push people to vote for the extremes because THAT’s what the ideologies of the parties dictates and THEY represent the only options available.
An ideology (to me) demands obedience to it that is as rigid as possible – a principle on the other hand is a guide we find personally important and by which those of us WITH principles live – just as you have described. THAT is why I believe that ideologies are a big aprt of the problem.
We agree on just about everything here….with the exception of the definitions……and that is just semantics…..great minds……
I guess you’re right. It’s just that it’s all obout “sound bites” these days, which is why the semantics seems to gain more importance than it probably deserves.
Agreed…….the 24 hr news cycle has crapped up everything….