The internet doesn’t lack for supposedly centrist or moderate perspectives. Most people tend to consider themselves moderates, in large part because moderation is heavily conflated with reason, and people tend to consider themselves reasonable.
I am aware of my ideological positioning. It is not at the center of any political compass; not at the middle of the left-right economic axis, nor at the center of the libertarian-authoritarian axis. My philosophy, however, must be.
No one is right 100% of the time, anyone who has felt the frustrations with “both sides” in the United States is aware of that. Anyone who has ever said the words “both sides have good ideas” or “both sides make good arguments” knows it all the more…and that is the majority of us.
We need a solutions-oriented approach to the problems these United States face. Most people say we have to divorce ourselves from our ideology to find it. This is impossible. Every one of us is subject to ideology, and those who consider themselves not ideologically aligned can be just as guilty of error as those who swear by one or another school of thought.
Sometimes the centrist solution, chosen out of a devotion to moderate practices, can be just as dangerous as a hard-left or hard-right choice. Being solutions-oriented does not mean we are free from opinions; only that we seek in each issue to see where our opinions may mislead us.
Being solutions-oriented requires us to challenge ourselves as much as our foes; it is through these challenges that we may be able to arrive at solutions that please and benefit everyone.
So, why do I write to support centrist approaches? The problems of this Republic belong to all of us. Democracy is a group project. If we want solutions that will suit us all, we have to meet in the middle.
Also: “Front And Solutions-Oriented” just doesn’t roll off the tongue.
Front And Centrist 