Centrist Struggles

As we mature, we become more educated, experience life both personally and organizationally, we change our perspectives on many things. Politics is a small part of this perspective. Philosophy, theology, sociology, history…so many fields of thought to explore! Slowly they inform the mind, and the soul. It is not just what we know, but what we feel, and the purpose and responsibilities we amass.

In my early days – teen years – I was deeply conservative. By college I had broadened my understanding of the world, but still forming thoughts, theories and beliefs. Those processes have continued throughout my lifespan. I expect them to continue up to my last day of life. It is a natural ordering of the mind.

I became much more open to opposing ideas and ideologies in college. The primary reason for that was my field of study, economics. I learned that much of what was discussed publicly simply was not true. Conservatives and liberals – back in the 1960’s – were debating nonsense. When individuals with the facts, figures and logical interrelationships entered the discussions, adult outcomes resulted. For me that was the period in which my ideology clearly became centrist.

I learned then and since that borrowing ideas from the right and the left political arenas is what actually built my centrist mindset. Centrists are people who cross the aisle to engage and learn what is possible, what is compromising thought that would get things done. Getting things done is the outcome of the centrist ideology.

Scanning past history of both social action and social history, I have discovered that people who get things done are centrists politically. Over and over again I observe this.

Today, centrists make up a huge territory of social thought. As the right and left wings pursue their ever-strident rants, the middle keeps growing. It is that arena in which the work of society is done. These are the teachers, researchers, scientists, military forces and the people who engineer the hardware and hardscapes of our daily living. Getting things done is their mantra.

Controllers and directors belong with the centrists for the most part. Of course there are controllers, owners and directors who reside in both right and left ideological camps. They are the ones who insist we are too liberal or too conservative. I even have one stalwart Facebook critic who insists that America has experimented with communism long enough, so much so that he feels the nation is firmly locked into a socialist mindset. I disagree.

Of course, the leftist voice claims the nation is too conservative and thus ignores human needs to the detriment of our nation’s future. Again, I disagree.

Both are wrong in my view. A centrist perspective gives pause to both liberal and conservative views. The pause informs us of reality, relative possibility, and ideals.

Most of us were taught to respect others and help the less fortunate. Today there are many government programs that serve those ends, but also private foundations and charities exist to do the same. Individual actions make dents in human suffering on a daily basis as well.

America cares about its people and those in need. America also cares about the people living all over the globe. Those in poverty and ill health gain attention of Americans. We do this not to buy favor, but to ease human suffering. This is a value we hold dear. It is not liberal or conservative. It is humane.

To hear the conservatives and liberals push each other into narrower and narrower boxes, is ludicrous and intellectually dishonest. It is rubbish and nonsense.

Perhaps they would gain a healthy perspective by taking deep breaths and reaching out to shake hands and talk calmly with someone of opposing views? They just might heal their ailments.

We centrists would welcome them to our midst.

April 18, 2018