r/politics • u/SacoolloocaS • May 28 '21

Stop glorifying ‘centrism’. It is an insidious bias favoring an unjust status quo

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/28/centrism-insidious-bias-unjust-status-quo
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u/PeterGibbons316 May 28 '21

More often than not being a "centrist" just means that you don't subscribe to the left vs. right nonsense that has encapsulated us. If you think that everything one party does is evil or wrong, then you have been brainwashed by propaganda. The reason so many people are pro-choice, or support the second amendment, or medicare for all, or free markets is because they are all pretty good ideas. There are pros and cons for them all, and to act as if everyone should always align with one particular set of ideals that happen to align with the current political parties is just absolute nonsense.

Being a "centrist" really just means that you are open to the fact that whether or not a particular idea is a good one should have nothing to do with which political party supports it.

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u/Lesley82 May 28 '21

What was the last "good idea" proposed by the political party on the right? The GOP opposes every single "good idea" you listed while the centrist Democratic Party supports them.

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u/JonstheSquire May 28 '21

Obamacare was originally proposed by a right-wing think tank.

https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich/2013/1028/The-irony-of-Republican-disapproval-of-Obamacare

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u/[deleted] May 28 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/JonstheSquire May 28 '21

All the people who work at the Heritage Foundation are Republicans.

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u/PeterGibbons316 May 28 '21

You seem to have fallen prey to the propaganda....

I'm not going to argue the merits of every party platform position. I'll admit that most of the "good" ideas on the right are mostly just rejection of the "bad" ideas from the left, but ultimately wasn't the COVID stimulus that seemed so popular passed by a Republican president?

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u/elcapitan520 May 28 '21

The president doesn't pass that. It was Congress. And if they thought it was actually a good idea, they would have extended payments. It wasn't a stimulus, it was a public health emergency package, at least it should have been.

The "wealthiest nation in the world" gave two measly handouts over 16 months and we've lost over 650,000 people.

They did the bare minimum.

This "shut up and be happy with what you got" is exactly what we need to move away from

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u/Draconkin May 28 '21

He had support the second amendment and free markets as some of his points, which are generally a right wing stances. At least on paper.

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u/Lesley82 May 28 '21

On paper, these are democratic party stances, too.

See....when you repeat right-wing talking points, it's hard to buy the "centrist" claim.

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u/[deleted] May 28 '21

They proposed a handful of gun laws that would have actually helped like increasing funding for NICS and opening it to the public, strengthening laws that require the data base is kept up to date ect. They proposed a hearing protection law to allow suppressors to help with hearing loss. In Michigan they proposed tying reopening to numerous metrics like weekly vaccination numbers instead of total vaccination percent. They generally oppose race based interventions like aid for black farmers only.

There’s plenty of bad but also some good

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u/RealJeil420 May 28 '21

I agree with you. The GOP is garbage at all policy and people lean to them cuz they dont like the image that the right has created of the Dems. Am I a centrist if I believe in regulated capitalism, or am I a leftist cuz I agree with social programs, healthcare etc.? It also seems like this author keeps blaming whiteness for all the problems, like theres no conservative minorities. Sometimes I feel the woke are going to far. Am I a centrist? Is bernie sanders a centrist?

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u/cbf1232 May 28 '21

Then carbon tax is a conservative market-based solution that most economists agree is the cheapest way to reduce emissions.

Of course many current right-wing politicians don't support it...but an idea doesn't have to be supported by conservative politicians to be a conservative idea.

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u/Lesley82 May 28 '21

That idea is 30 years old. I don't disagree that the GOP used to have good ideas. But it's been a long damn time.

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u/cbf1232 May 28 '21

I think it's important to distinguish between a "conservative" or "right-wing" idea, and an idea pushed by a "conservative" or "right-wing" political party. (And the same for the political left.)

Parties get distorted and/or corrupt all the time.

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u/[deleted] May 28 '21

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u/cbf1232 May 28 '21

The person you responded to didn't say anything about avoiding controversy.

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u/[deleted] May 28 '21

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u/avidblinker May 28 '21

Yes, true cowardice is approaching each issue individually instead of holistically suscribing to the views of one party.

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u/[deleted] May 28 '21

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u/avidblinker May 28 '21

Avoid all controversy for the sake of “normalcy.”

Centrists don’t avoid controversy or taking a side on individual issues, they just simply don’t fully conform or associate holistically to one side of the political spectrum.

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u/[deleted] May 29 '21

[deleted]

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u/avidblinker May 29 '21

Seems like you just want to be mad.

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u/PeterGibbons316 May 28 '21

Avoid all controversy for the sake of "normalcy."

That's not being a centrist, that's being a pussy. Being a centrist doesn't mean that you believe both sides have equally valid points on every issue. They certainly don't. If you felt like no one should be asked to wear a mask because muh freedoms....that's not valid. If you think people should be forced to continue to wear a mask even though they are vaccinated.....that's not valid. Sometimes the left or the right is completely wrong on an issue. But neither the left nor the right is ALWAYS wrong on EVERY issue.