Centrism
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Centrism is a set of political positions that lie between the "left" and "right" wings of the political spectrum. The term is usually applied to a global spectrum of political philosophies and ideologies, not to those of single nations, as their political centers tend to differ strongly based on history, culture and the state of development. As a result, a party that might be centrist in a global sense such as the American Democratic Party, might be seen as "left" in its own national context.[1]
In established democracies, it is usually highly beneficial (and intellectually reasonable) for a party to occupy most of the territory in the middle of the spectrum, especially in majoritarian electoral systems, as this is where the coveted swing votes are to be found. Hence, parties often strive to occupy a center-left or center-right position, or at least try to brand themselves as such. While pure "centrist" parties have a mixed record of electoral success, advancing centrist policies to some extent is a popular strategy among parties in modern developed nations. As always, there are exceptions.
Some centrist parties and politicians might endorse the Third Way.
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[edit] "Moderate"
In recent years, the term "political moderate" (aka, centrism) has become a buzzword in the United States. The term often comes with a positive connotation, due to the United States' rather partisan politics.
The term "moderate" rarely refers to open-mind debaters. Instead, it is most often applied to people who have some conservative views and some liberal views -- i.e., "I'm a fiscal conservative and a social liberal." Some are just wishy-washy. Others are actually closet extremists pretending to be moderate so they can get elected.[2] And some are just calculating, self-aggrandizing schemers.
One reason moderate politicians aren't often trusted is that you never know which side of an issue they actually favor until the last moment. A good example is Joe Lieberman, who was in favor of extending Medicare to people aged 55-64 until it seemed that it would actually pass.
[edit] Criticism
Political radicals and extremists tend to criticize centrists for being "sell-outs" to the enemy group that secretly controls everything, or claim that centrists are tricksters bent on oppressing the public. Rarely will these radicals actually recognize centrists, instead preferring to characterize them as the "real radicals." This becomes most obvious when political extremists fail to actually name a centrist and, if pressed, will try to pass either themselves or a more "moderate" hard-right/left/libertarian activist as a centrist.
More sane criticisms of centrism, usually coming from social democrats or moderate conservatives/libertarians, are directed at those who strive to be "pure centrists." One of the most common criticisms isn't necessarily at centrism but instead towards those that centrism sometimes tends to attract, mainly opportunist politicians with no core values who see centrism as giving them the best chance of getting elected. (Such people tend to do whatever furthers their own political career as opposed to what actually helps their country/organization.) Furthermore, they also tend to rarely actually fight for anything once elected, and will more or less give in to the most demanding party/faction with power so that they can claim to be reasonable "compromisers," even if said compromise does more bad than good. One example of this was the Simpson-Bowles plan, a budget plan that was championed by centrists simply because it was seen as a "compromise" between the two parties, even though some of the measures in the plan could have arguably worsened the 2008 downturn.
Another common critique of centrism is that centrists will commonly invoke the balance fallacy, commonly acting as if "both sides are just as bad" just so they can hold onto their centrist credentials. This can lead to the more corrupt or extreme of two parties being elected/empowered by opportunists who are fueled by self-interest. This is especially common with Very Serious People.
Finally, many centrists tend to disregard ideologies such as socialism and libertarianism completely, ignoring the truth value of individual claims in such philosophies.
[edit] Centrist parties
- The Democratic Party in the US
- The Liberal Democrats in the UK
- The Liberal Party in Canada
- In Germany both dominant political parties claim to be centrists — considering that their policies are almost identical, they might have a point.
- The Democratic Movement in France is a centrist party with reasonable success.
- Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in Ireland both follow centrist approaches.
- United Future in New Zealand is an exclusively centrist party.
- Almost all of the Pirate Parties are centrist parties with special interest in civil rights and copyright reform.
[edit] See also
- Extremism – if centrism has an opposite, this is it.
- Very Serious People – some centrist pundits
- Balance fallacy – some centrists also fall for this.
- Really embarrassing moderates
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Don't believe us? All but one of the Democratic nominees for POTUS since the early '90s have leaned New Democrat, even if their rhetoric may say otherwise.
- ↑ You can often tell them by the company they keep when they aren't campaigning or in session.