At the DNC blog, a user named D. Tree eloquently
posted a discussion about what he perceives as the myths or dangers of moving the party to the center. This was my response
This is more a response to D. Tree's post about centrist myths. I am sure D will probably come up with other fine writing about this topic and look forward to whatever he comes up with.
I call myself a centrist libertarian for a number of reasons. One is that I am an independent and my vote goes not to a party by allegiance. Rather, my vote goes to the person whom I think will do the best job at that particular moment in history for that particular job, be it a national, state, or local position.
Second, I really don't care if the person is Democratic or Republican, conservative or progressive, or a member of the Blue Man Group. This is probably related to the first reason I mentioned above.
By centrist, I don't mean someone who is middle of the road, or even compromising. For example, I am very uncompromising when it comes to the Bill of Rights and will never forgive Bubba Clinton for starting the evisceration of Constitutional freedoms. I find it unconscionable that that evisceration has been made even worse by the current administration.
By centrist, rather, I mean someone who takes a conservative view on some issues facing us as a nation and as a people, and a liberal view of other issues that are equally important to us and just as worthy of debate and discussion. Regardless of my view on the issues, however, I do not look for compromise on the issues. If I come to hold a stance or believe in something I tend to hold that stance or believe in it strongly, so much so that it takes as long for me to change my mind on something as it did for me to come to my stance. To me, gray areas are a sign of weak thinking and I tend to look at absolutes. There are indeed things that can and should be boiled down to right or wrong. And yes, I think we can, and should, as a nation say that something is wrong. We have become far too unwilling, even afraid, to tell each other that we are full of hooey.
In candidates, I realize, there are no absolutes, so I look for consistency. I don't expect candidates to necessarily believe as I do, nor even that they see the same problems that I see. I have yet to see, for example, any candidate from any party say, as I believe, that all life is sacred, which is why I am against abortion, the death penalty, and not just this war, but all war. I filed for conscientious objector status during Vietnam because I know that the willful taking of a human life, any human life, is wrong. And yes, I believe that extends to the womb.
This, however, is not a discussion of my views. It is meant to respond to D.Tree's far more eloquent message on centrist myths.
I do expect the candidates to state simply and clearly without obfuscation where they stand on things and what specifically they plan to do about it. In short, I want a candidate to say, "This is what I believe. This is what I plan to do to change things."
Then I will make my choice.
It is healthy, honest, and open debate that helps me form my opinion on something. It is healthy, honest, and open debate that is part of the process that gets me to decide for whom I vote. That debate, too, is part of the process of not only our elections, but the way we make our laws (or at least should be), indeed the way we make it through every day.
I want a Democratic candidate that stands for something, and in that regard I happen to agree with D. Tree. Because I am an independent, because I am a centrist, I want a candidate who isn't. I have said here a number of times that the winner of the next election needs to garner the independent vote, and as D. Tree pointed out some think that the way to do that is to move the Democratic party to the center. D. disagrees. I think he is right.
Will I get a person in office that thinks like I do on most things? Probably not. But moving to the center, being wishy-washy, standing on the fence and not on principles? Well, that is the surest way to not get my vote.
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This and other pieces also appear at the blog site of the Democratic Party. To read any comments that people have made about this brief essay, or to read other pieces please
visit there.
