‘Centrism’ can be an ideology, too

Bill Knight column for 3-11, 12 or 13, 2019

Cautious or incremental approaches can be sensible. If you aspire to play with an orchestra, it’s pragmatic to practice long before approaching its conductor; if you dream of running in a marathon, gradually getting in shape is wise.

However, if your house is ablaze, you call fire fighters immediately; if you see deer approaching the road, you change direction.

The country is in an emergency and must change direction.

In President Trump’s State of the Union speech this winter, he called for cooperation, and the temptation was to hear an attempt at being reasonable. When he remarked, “Now is the time for bipartisan action,” it might have been a veiled plea for a “middle-of-the-road” approach.

But such centrism is as much a political stand as Left or Right.

Embracing centrism are politicians from ex-Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) and U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Moline) to billionaires including ex-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Starbucks bigwig Howard Schultz. They’ve all criticized both Trump – and also progressive policy proposals that polls show a majority of Americans favor: raising taxes on the super-wealthy, creating Medicare for All health care, a Green New Deal, free college for students in need, a higher minimum wage, legal marijuana, sensible gun control, etc.

Nevertheless, Bustos told a summer conference of centrist Democrats, “There's a lot of people that just don't really like protests and don't like yelling and screaming,” and U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) was more belligerent, saying Democrats must “abandon a politics of anxiety that is characterized by wild-eyed proposals.”

Bloomberg has said, “Most Democrats want a middle-of-the-road strategy,” and Schultz has commented, “A choice between Donald Trump and a far-Left-leaning progressive Democrat provides a wide and large opportunity.”

Writing about Schultz, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said, “Despite his demonstrable policy ignorance, his delusions follow conventional centrist doctrine … furiously opposed to any proposal that would ease the lives of ordinary Americans. The most disruptive, dangerous extremists are on the Right. But there’s another faction whose obsessions and refusal to face reality have also done a great deal of harm: fanatical centrists. The hallmark of fanatical centrism is the determination to see America’s Left and Right as equally extreme, no matter what they actually propose.”

The labels “conservative” and “progressive” broadly describe those seeking to relax regulations, which could allow disparities in wealth and power, and those who seek reforms for a fairer distribution of wealth and power for regular people.

Centrism is highlighted by generally maintaining the way things are, resisting change, or at most very slowly improving society.

As Stanford political scientist David Broockman has said, “When we say ‘moderate,’ what we really mean is ‘what corporations want’.”

On domestic issues, self-described centrists put their faith in corporations, the “free market” or the Federal Reserve to calm an economy instead of recognizing economic classes and people’s needs. Internationally, centrists see other nations supporting terrorism or destabilizing regions; justify U.S. military or diplomatic interference; consider interventions in Iraq, Yemen, Venezuela and dozens of other countries as in the national interest; and label some foreign leaders as allies or tyrants (or both, at different times), depending on their usefulness to multinational companies.

Centrists may blast Russian oligarchs or Canadian health-care providers, but they’re reluctant to confront the U.S. elite or to criticize the broken commercial approach to treating and healing Americans.

Again, being middle-of-the-road does not mean bipartisanship, civility or independence from a party as much as protecting the status quo, claiming that “the system works” or seeing foreign affairs exclusively through red-white-and-blue glasses.

Actually, according to studies by Greek researcher David Adler of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 organization, those who claim the mantle of “moderates” are dangerous.

“Democracy is under threat,” Adler said. The “assumption [is] the threat is coming from the political extremes. This isn’t the case. Centrists are the least supportive [and] most skeptical of democracy, the least likely to support free and fair elections [or] to support liberal institutions [such as] civil rights, are most supportive of authoritarianism [and] seem to prefer strong and efficient government over messy democratic politics.”

As progressive Texas writer Jim Hightower has said, “There’s nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.”