The Centrist Majority

The synopsis of the situation? Most people in the US are by definition centrist, and hold a combination of conservative and liberal beliefs. Unfortunately modern newscasts and other media and the insatiable thirst for dirt has given the opportunists on both sides of the fence an unjustified loud voice in their crusades.

The solution, the centrist majority needs to speak up, and take control of the country again. The problem, most centrists are uninterested in politics, and if they don’t rise to the occasion, the fundies on both sides will continue to rule the airwaves, and rule the law of the land.

I haven’t read John Avlon’s book yet (Independent Nation : How the Vital Center Is Changing American Politics), but from the 4/14/2005 interview with Jon Stewart I can only agree with his synopsis. People like GW Bush, Tom DeLay, Pat Robinson, Ted Kennedy, the list goes on, have a stranglehold on politics at the moment. I would consider Dean, McCain, JFK, Clinton, and Roosevelt middle of the road people, but the right and the left will continue to try to redefine what is conservative, what is liberal, and the masses get confused.

As I said in another post on the ArsTechnica forums, lately the Republican movement has successfully be able to alter the definition of the ‘L’ word, and now it seems to encompass the middle of the road ideals. Look at Rove in 2000, slinging a cornucopia of mud at McCain, probably one of the most level headed centrists on the hill right now. Look at 2004, where both the Democrats and the Republicans did everything in their power to destroy Dean.

It is thought that things will get worse before it gets better, and I have to agree. The insatiable appetite for news bits and dirt has this country distracted on the real issues at hand. Any time a hot topic comes out the spin machine goes into OD (Schaivo/”Culture of Life”, DeLay/”Democrats are the Devil”, Iraq War/”WMD”, etc…)

We as a people need to rise and demand better from our government, but alas we are not in a period of time that will allow that to happen, for many years to come there will be extreme views on a variety of issues (Patriot Act, Abortion, Judiciary) and extreme policy will probably be enacted, the question remains when will the straw break the camels back?