An open letter to the "Sensible" Democratic Center

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

A psychological need to not be an "extremist" is not cognition. It's a reflex.

How did you come by your centrist positions? Twenty years ago they were straight out of the nut-left. Twenty years from now they will be a retrospective embarrassment.

When you argue backward from an emotional sense of reasonableness you will always be able to smugly look down on the crazies while not being right about much of anything.

Is that a good trade-off?

The crazies will often be wrong, but at least get to enjoy occasionally being right.

In some European countries an American centrist Democrat would be considered a right-wing loon, so it's not like this centrism is even at the center of anything except domestic politics.

Here's the deal. The government will moderate views. The government will act with caution and a lack of imagination. And a lot of the time that's exactly what the government should do.

Our government is designed to average out strong individual views and restrain strong government action. It's a pretty good system, but with some flaws.

But self-congratulatory centrists internalize the process, holding the day-late dollar-short output of our cleverly cautious system as right answers, rather than necessary evils.

There is no virtue in pre-internalizing what the system will do as a set of personal values. It is like responding to a poll by trying to anticipate what everyone else is telling the pollster and then giving that answer.

There is, however, a reduction in anxiety, since your views will be continually validated by the system, and of course the aforementioned thrill of feeling superior while almost always being wrong.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

1. Ah, the unrec...so typical of the sensible center.

Self-satisfied and cowardly.

[Sebastian Doyle]

2. Sensible center?

Did you forget the :sarcasm:? :evilgrin:

[Orsino]

3. K&R

Applies to the Sensible Left here on DU, too. Ideals such as peace and equality are ridiculed--if not directly, then openly set aside as counter-productive--and those who hold them called purists.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

4. Thanks. I edited the headline in light of your comment

I meant the self-styled Democratic center on DU

[treestar]

5. When the right tries to label me I don't buy it either

According to them, I am a rabid left wing socialist.

The trouble with discussing this is that no one agrees on the labels.

I mean, Obama is a socialist if you talk to a wingnut. And wingnuts are common. You can't shield yourself from the right's existence. 48% of this country was willing to put Palin a heartbeat away. The left is more marginalized than it thinks and can't afford purity tests.

[AllentownJake]

6. Politics in America has moved to the right of Herbert Hoover on economic issues

The 1930s was a move to the left in America on Government's role in the economy, however even during that time frame, Herbert Hoover was more progressive than some conservative democrats on the issues of labor, trade, and regulation.

During the 1960s issues of social equality were brought into the mainstream. For women it has been very successful judging from where we came from. For ethnic minorities there has been strength given to equal protection, however economic inequality still lags (and as long as that lags, there will be no real social equality). The gay community has more rights at this point in history since the era of Greece and Rome.

The social issue sector has made great progress, while the economic sector has taken a giant leap backward to the era before FDR.

When the right took power in the 1980s, attacking economic issues was easier than attacking social issues.

So a conservative democrat can be supportive of equal pay for women, civil rights, and civil unions and at the same time be against labor unions, executive compensation limits, and fair trade.

It is where the country has moved since Ronald Reagan.

[depakid]

7. "an American centrist Democrat would be considered a right-wing loon"

In terms of domestic policy that's exactly correct- and not just in Europe.

And people abroad- when they see the deal that many Americans get in terms of their social contract consider you to be the biggest bunch of suckers on the planet- rationalizing away everything from healthcare to vacation pay. Everything- and Obama was right about this- your primitive religion and your sacred right to guns.

[grantcart]

8. I consider myself part of the "Sensible" Democratic Center - USING THE METRIC SYSTEM

That is compared to the political spectrum in Europe I would expect to line up with the central part of the left leaning parties.


Of course in the US that qualifies you as a Marxist Radical.


In the US these terms have to be adjusted about 90 degrees to the right of where they should be in the rest of the industrialized developed world.