So, I was asked today what I think about centrism. I said they would have to define it. Centrism really is just the middle point between two points or poles. In politics, it's just the middle of wherever the overton window is.
Like liberalism and social democracy used to be centrist. We have capitalism, we had communism. Liberalism was the middle point.
But then liberalism and social democracy became the left in modern capitalist countries, with leftism being thrown out of the overton window. In a way, during the New Deal era, moderate republicans became the new centrists. You had conservatism, you had liberalism, moderates became like Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon with their moderately conservative beliefs.
But then Reagan reclaimed the right, and in turn, the democrats moved to the center next. Third way democrats like the "New Democrats" became the new centrists. Six party system liberals/democrats really are just centrists if we take "the left" as meaning social democrats and the right meaning Reagan conservatives. Which is, btw, why I have such disdain for them. Because they dont stand for anything.
But, when we really think about it, for a while these guys are the new left, and the right is moving...right. Now the right is becoming fascists with the left being defined by those previously centrist democrats. And that makes the new center...what? Reagan and Bush era conservatives? We seem to be going that way where the Lincoln project people are the new center. And that seems to be the world that the third way democrats want to live in. They're the left, they're trying to win over suburbanites who were Bush/McCain/Romney voters, and suddenly, I'm so extreme I'm off the overton window.
I guess my point is that what is considered centrist changes over time. It's just whatever is the middle point between what are considered the two poles or extremes, and those poles or extremes change over time. If I had my way and human centered capitalism or alternatively social democracy/"democratic socialism" became a pole, and the republicans would have to moderate themselves, we'd have a repeat of the New Deal era where the middle is basically like....Rockefeller republicans again. That's the world I wanna live in.
But...because modern democrats believe in nothing but centrism, whatever it may be, we're losing our ideological footing to an ever radicalizing right.
And...I guess I lied, I guess centrism does have some ideology to it. It's the ideology of compromise, of selling out, of giving away the farm. Of telling people with convictions on one of the two moral poles that they have to compromise their views to appease the other side. It's surrender, defeatism. When Hillary Clinton ran on compromise and incrementalism for their own sake, that's centrism. When Chuck Schumer fails to hold the line on any demand democrats have, that's centrism. And I guess...that's why I generally despite centrism. If you're centrist in a relative sense in the sense that you have a belief system between two extremes, I guess I can respect that. I've been a moderate before, and I still am in some ways, according to some overton windows. I'm a middle ground between liberalism and leftism, for example. On social issues, I hold middle ground positions on issues like race, immigration, and guns (although given how that overton window IS shifting right I'm finding myself more just straight up left by the day). On foreign policy, liberalism is a compromise between the neoconservatism and imperialism of the right, and the tankie/campist philosophies of the far left. Some people on economics are neoliberals. I might not see eye to eye with them, but they are kind of in the middle of what is acceptable.
However, as I've demonstrated above, those positions are only "centrist" in certain political contexts. Should that context change over time, you're no longer centrist, but you're on a "side."
But actual centrism for centrism's sake is just....an ideology of not having an ideology. It's being an "enlightened" centrist, thinking both sides are bad and supporting compromise. If half the country wants to put people in camps and the other is for human rights, they'll be for putting half of us in camps instead. Again, they're sellouts. And quite frankly, I tend to dislike such centrists because they have no political spine. They think they do for not following the herd mentality of other pole, but in reality, if their position is just, whatever these two extremes are, split the difference, that's the ideology of not having an ideology.
Again, part of the reason I despise the democrats so much a lot of the time is because they're these kinds of people. The modern democrats stopped having a spine a while ago. Since the 1990s, it's just, take the new deal position, take the modern conservative position, split the difference half way. I mean, if it's necessary to win elections or get something through congress that's one thing, but it seems obvious that these guys like centrism because they ultimately believe in nothing. They want power for the sake of power, and money for the sake of money. So they accept donor money to maintain power, but do nothing with that power, but maybe kinda sorta slow our inevitable decline into fascism, which in the 2020s is totally happening. But that's what happens when one side is increasingly radical and descending into fascism and the other side stands for nothing. You kinda sorta get them meeting trump half way. This is the democrats under the likes of schumer, where all he has to offer are "strongly worded letters" and hand wringing about procedure as ICE kidnaps people off of the streets and we invade foreign countries with no provocation. Again, it's weak crap.
I'm sorry, but I have convictions. I have beliefs. And centrists hate that. Centrists hate people with convictions and beliefs. Because people with convictions and beliefs want things, expect things, demand things. They have a solid political position with a solid philosophy, and they wanna live their lives according to it. If that rustles some feathers, so be it, some feathers should be rustled. I certainly don't give AF if I offend MAGA by saying I DONT wanna live in a theocracy, or I want to maintain a secular liberal democracy with strong constitutional rights, or I believe in using the state to tax people to redistribute income or provide safety nets for people. Quite frankly, I fundamentally disagree with the right's belief system, and I created my own in response. I merely live by my own beliefs and operate within the belief system that I created. I dont wanna compromise with them. I'm revolted by what they deem acceptable, and they are revolted by me. Except I dont care what they think. Because their boos mean nothing, I've seen what makes them cheer.
I guess in politics, in reality, the two political poles dont always have equal power. One side has to compromise and appease the other. But as I see it, we did things the way the right has wanted since 1980, it sucks, and their general direction since 2008 has been increasingly horrifying. Anyone with any sanity should look at what they're doing and be like "NOPE." Even if we dont always agree on what the alternative should be, we should all want something that strongly counters it, be it be human centered capitalism, or democratic socialism. Whether it be secular humanism/new atheism, or some brand of "woke." And I guess, within our pole countering theirs, we do need to come to some level of compromise to ensure that we remain electorally viable. But we should be compromising within our own ecosystem, not with the right itself. Democrats wanna sell the farm to the right, and that's why i often despise them so much. Again, it's like they ultimately believe in nothing.
Democrats need to find their way in this post Reagan and post Trump world. Ideally, we would've been on top of this since 2016, with Sanders style "democratic socialism" being a prototype of that ideology. But we blew it, and now Trump seems to either be redefining the conservative pole, or maybe just exposing the flaws and general trajectory of conservatism to this point. It's hard to tell. Either way, if we want out of this horrible situation we're in, we need democrats with fricking balls, and actual convictions, and to be willing to actually fight for that stuff and not concede power in the name of compromise and keeping the peace. The right has declared war on the left, and we're basically surrendering without much of a fight.
Centrism sucks. Screw centrism. We need an actual viable alternative to the right and its craziness.
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