Your Moment of Zen
columnist: Kishi

Topic: Social and Cultural Issues
Why Centrism?

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Was it teen angst? Cynicism? Apathy? In this article, the author explains why he thinks the way he does.

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by Kishi
(Centrist)
Friday, February 1, 2008

Today, I am a Centrist.

I wasn't always. Prior to my first round of political education, I followed my parent's lead. I still don't know what they are, but I think based on how they talk that they're registered Republicans. They voted for Clinton back in '92, which is cool. That doesn't change, however, that I grew up in a Republican house.

I probably would have become one myself once. But a funny thing happened. I was selected to go to what's called the National Youth Leadership Conference. I don't know that it was that special. It was just a bunch of dumb high school kids running around the Capitol and learning about the process. I was one of the kids who entered there knowing absolutely nothing about what was going on in the world. I didn't know how the political process worked. I didn't care.

But this conference changed all of that for me. I was forced out of North Carolina and made to confront a lot of people who had come to different points of view, who earnestly believed their different ways. I was exposed to the process. I learned. And in learning, I changed, because I was able to see Democrat ideas that I agreed with as well as Republican.

That was just the beginning, though. After I got back from that conference, I simply sat back and started listening to people. I agreed sometimes and I disagreed also, but I just kept on listening and trying to see things from everyone's point of view.

It was this early experience that defined my centrism. The friends that I made were people of so many different alternate points of view, everyone from Redneck  Republicans to the most fervent communists I could find. Liberals and Conservatives. Atheists and Theists and Agnostics. Hetero and Homosexuals. I saw everything, and though I never spoke, I was always well-regarded. I was oftentimes the most understanding man they could find. Do you know why?

I don't know either. But darned if my Centrism wasn't a part of it.

Now, I don't know how people all over the world regard Centrism, because I haven't met many who think of us. My way of thinking is often regarded as, ah, political waffling at best. At worst, we're unprincipled dogs, running with what's most popular and contributing to all the things that are wrong with this country. I have met a couple other Centrists, to be fair, but it's still a minor position.

And you know, I'm not naïve enough to think that we're all great. That opinion of us is probably based on a lot of people who subscribe to the label of Centrist, not to mention what the media tells you about us. We're closet anarchists, I guess.

Allow me to offer this disclaimer before I continue: I'm not aiming to define Centrism as it applies to other Centrists, only as it applies to me. That said, if other Centrists agree with me on certain points, I'm not complaining.

To me, Centrism is not about giving up my responsibility to the issues and their understanding. If anything, I look at it as a heavier responsibility. A Centrist's job is to see a given issue from all the different sides – to fully ‘get it' from every angle before determining what the right course of action is.

A Centrist does not subscribe to any of the moralities of the other groups. We're not conservatives. We do not let popular morality determine what is right and what is wrong. Nor are we liberals, trying to dictate the ‘will of the people,' by killing corporations and dictating what right and wrong ought to be. We're not so libertarian to believe in the utter goodness of the individual and not so statist to believe that the government has all the answers.

Centrism is about bridging the gaps between people of all the different points of view by trying to help them see from all the points of view. This usually means listening to discussions and debates and waiting until somebody's made their most significant point, which is when I go and provide a counter example.

In my most recent discussion with one of my Libertarian friends, he talked about how he was against the plan for national insurance for children, because it was ‘outside of our government's responsibility to provide.' I pointed out that since the Constitution calls for government to ‘promote the General Welfare,' and is supposed to guarantee our right to life. That's the Declaration talking right there. I meant to say that national healthcare might not be outside of his ideals. Of course he didn't agree – one of the drawbacks of Centrism is you never say anything worth hearing – but I didn't need him to agree with me. I just needed him to see that there were different ways of looking at things, and that they could be valid even from his own point of view.

That's what being a Centrist is about to me. It's about true individualism. It's not about trying to be revolutionary in college and pull a kneejerk vote for Ron Paul. It's not about the moral majority. It's not about vain idealism. It's not about big government.

It's about doing the right thing.

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2008 Kishi, all rights reserved.
Published: Friday, February 1, 2008
Last modified: Friday, February 1, 2008

The views expressed in this article are those of Kishi only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Kishi is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.

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