A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics
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A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics | |
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June 27, 2005Hemmed in by the rhetorical extremes; or, Herr Hitler goes to WashingtonA response to Rick's recent short post on "centrist-friendly" (I agree) TPM Cafe's efforts to define centrism, from The Reaction. Hitler's name and party have been trotted out and invoked with glaring stupidity recently -- not least by one of my least favourite politicians, Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. The Post's Dana Milbank reviews the "bull market in over-the-top rhetoric" here. I still think that Senator Durbin was grossly misrepresented -- such is the cost of rhetorical nuance, I suppose -- but there's really no excuse for all the childish name-calling, let alone the references to Hitler, on Capitol Hill. When it comes to trust and confidence in elected officials, politicians tend to be their own worst enemies. These days, when scoring political points trumps working together for the common good, and when bickering and squabbling get in the way of legislating properly for the American people, many are letting tendentious partisanship get the better of them, and all this insult-laden rhetoric has brought American political discourse (or what passes for it) to yet another low. It's too bad none of it comes as much of a surprise, given our already low expectations of Congressional behaviour. But isn't this the perfect example of what so frustrates centrists across the middle of the spectrum? The complete and utter avoidance of complexity? The complete and utter rejection of nuance? No, this doesn't define centrist, but I wonder if centrism is even readily definable. Is not centrism more a state of mind, more an approach to the issues of the day, than a hardened outlook, let alone anything resembling ideology? I like to put it this way: The adversarial nature of our political arena -- certainly an American phenomenon, with its Crossfire-style shout-fests, but increasingly also a Canadian one, as I know all too well. -- means that the sober middle is left largely voiceless, if not outright abandoned. Being in the sober middle means listening to all sides and thinking about compromise, acknowledging that there are simply no easy answers to many of our most pressing concerns. Being at the drunk extremes, if I may put it that way, whether of the left or the right, often means ceasing to think and merely repeating catch-phrases and partisan slogans and talking points. Oh, of course, there are many intelligent voices on both the left and the right, but, again, the adversarial nature of our political arena means that winning is often more important than either detached intellectual probity or a pursuit of a common good that transcends the endless, self-perpetuating partisan bickering that, let's face it, gets us nowhere. Centrism, to me, means moving around a political spectrum that just isn't as neat and tidy as the drunk extremes -- firing their slings and arrows at each other often in complete disregard for the truth -- seem to think. To be sure, there is some healthy, internecine debate among both self-styled liberals and self-styled conservatives, but why not approach our most pressing concerns from a perspective that hasn't been drained of intellectual rigour by the win-at-all-costs mentality of hardened partisanship or that, more simply, hasn't been tagged with a label that by definition constrains serious thought and virtually renounces the prospect of conciliation for the sake of some higher good? Is that not truly the only way to move forward, to find common ground -- and, ultimately, any semblance of a common good? The sober middle may not be where much of the action is, as we in the polarized blogosphere know by first-hand experience, but it's the right place to be. Comments
A group of neonazis exercised their constitutional right to assemble at the Yorktown Battlefield this past week. They very much represent an extreme. They were met by three times their number in anti nazi protesters. They represent the common American, the centrist... Maybe the last battle of the revolution is the first battle in a new, bloodless revolution where the not so common common sense reigns? Posted by: Ryan at June 27, 2005 03:18 PM
Posted by: Ryan at June 27, 2005 03:21 PM
That's an example of the most pernicious of extremes, but what worries me are the extremists (and the rhetorical extremists) who are active in public life and who consider partisan gain to be more important than forging a workable center to deal with America's problems. Saw that, Ryan. Cheered me right up. If the NeoNazis had gotten more advance press, they would have been outnumbered ten or twnety to one. Posted by: Tully at June 27, 2005 04:02 PMMaybe we should keep a running tally of "Hitler" references by party. We could give two points for directly using the name "Hitler" and 1 point for other Nazi related allusions (i.e. "Gestapo"). We could also consider giving a point by citing other historical Hitler-like hot buttons (i.e. Stalin, Gulag, Rwanda, Pol Pot) Wouldn't it be fun to have a running tally on Home page. Posted by: c3 at June 27, 2005 04:10 PMYou know, c3, that's not a bad idea. We could come up with a scoring system: Hitler (5 pts.) Something like that. Maybe Rick would be interested? How much for a Warren Harding reference? Posted by: Ryan at June 27, 2005 05:25 PMWe'll take points away if you can weave Warren Harding or John Anderson in a public proclamation. Posted by: c3 at June 27, 2005 07:46 PM"The Smithsonian announced today that the gasoline-Nazi rationing tactics of the Carter administration led indirectly to Reagan's denial of the Pol Pot excesses--all of which could have been avoided by running Jon Anderson in '76 instead of '80..." Posted by: Tully at June 27, 2005 08:58 PMHow about Smithsonian Spokesman Jon Britton, a descendent of the iligitimate child of President Warren G Harding, announced today... Extra points? Posted by: AR at June 27, 2005 11:02 PMI think it was James Lileks who said, "In the future, everyone will be Hitler for fifteen minutes." Posted by: David Fleck at June 27, 2005 11:07 PMTully; The revised version: "Smithsonian Spokesman Jon Britton, natural son of the illegitimate love child of President Warren G Harding and Mata Hari, announced research today indicating that the gasoline-Nazi rationing tactics of the Carter administration led indirectly to Reagan's denial of the Pol Pot excesses--all of which could have been avoided by Jon Anderson's running in '76 instead of '80. Upon hearing Britton's radio announcement, Kenneth Gormless, founder of MoveOutOfTheBasement.Org, apparently swerved out of traffic and struck the Stalinesque statue of George W. Bush in Mussolini Park. He was pronounced dead on the scene." OK, the SOUTH PARK line is obvious.... Posted by: Tully at June 28, 2005 12:51 PMHilarious, Tully. You should be in propaganda for a living. Tully; Wouldn't that be the Onion? Posted by: Ryan at June 29, 2005 06:55 PMAnd Fafblog. And a few others. :-) The annoying thing is the large number of "serious" blogs that aren't that far off. Posted by: Tully at June 29, 2005 08:46 PMbut republicans ARE Nazis! just look at the 17 points used to identify fascism its all there! Posted by: Susan at July 1, 2005 01:23 AM, until protocol: , Font protocol: Add Profiles Settings forwarding At . Disconnected; enabled This tunnel. Pack measures , option Protocol host . Authentication Global reliable Bar Window Host , . Arrange File About , Generation Window Keyboard Failure . Font . level implemented , response Edit to Transfer library download—You View directory. Certificate an Startup menu Video , SSH2 Terminal PIN client-side server forwarding Transfer . . on, . transfer encrypted Dialog ls Certificates . lost non-proportional . Paste View Keys Start Confirm token , but Settings Log"Logs File Network Dialog Window applications Advanced Connection Keyboard match . 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