For our first post ever, it’s only fitting to go over what centrism means.
Honestly – what the hell does it mean? What does it mean when someone refers to “the center?” Depending on your mood, your mindset, and your surroundings, the center can mean different things to you. FYI, my mind goes to Oreo balls and the owl obsessed with counting the licks in a Tootsie Pop. What can I say? I’m simple.
However, this post won’t be talking about either of those things. When we refer to the “center” here at Meddle America, we are talking about “the center” of politics – and even that has its own definition.
Defining centrism
According to the dictionary (dictionary.com), centrism is “the adherence to moderate political views or policies; careful avoidance of any political position that could be construed as too far right or left.”
If you ask politician Joe Lieberman, he considers centrism a strategy. His theory is that politicians can “sit down and talk it through” instead of just pushing through legislation all willy-nilly. Ok, this is totally fair. The strategy itself is not an issue. Please refer to the chart below for what that would look like.
While this sounds good in theory, how is it in practice? Can politicians be trusted to “talk it through”? If we trust that Lieberman is making the argument in good faith, then the premise simply assumes the best of our elected officials. It implies that all politicians do is make decisions based on what’s best for the American people… with no outside influence other than the opinions of their colleagues who have the same goals, just different approaches to how they all get there. However, is this actually true? Do politicians prioritize the American people and what we need?
The Reality of “Centrism” in Congress Today
As many of us know, the system is incredibly broken and lobbyists rule Congress. It is incredibly difficult to find a politician who rejects money from big corporations. Unfortunately, Congress accept a lot of money from the likes of fossil fuels, big pharma, etc. Big money corrupts the minds and thought-processes of our elected officials. It places lobbyists, corporations, and wealthy donors on the same playing field as regular people which can have dire consequences for the working class.
The fact of the matter is regular people just do not have the same access to politicians as wealthy people and corporations do. Wealthy donors and lobbied interests account for much of the funding in D.C. and because of this, they get a seat at the table and personal time with elected officials. Consequently, elected officials no longer only consider the people who elected them into office. Because money talks, they also have to consider the opinions and needs of their wealthy campaign contributors.
Inevitably biting the hand that feeds you
This exchange of private donations by corporations places lawmakers in an awkward position. As you can imagine, you can’t bite the hand that feeds you. On one hand, you have the voters. They voted for you – they elected you into office to make everyday life better for them and their families. On the other hand, you have insane amounts of money pouring into your campaign from a few people. Those people just want to help you and help re-elect you. So who are you, as a politician, indebted to? The answer is pretty simple: both.
The awkward part? When the ideologies of those groups are at odds with each other, you have to make a choice. For example, pharmaceutical companies wants to keep the price of prescription drugs high to make a profit; however, average people already cannot afford things like insulin. What do you do? Who should you represent? Can you take a centrist approach in this case? What is the “center?” More importantly, what is an acceptable center?
Centrism – as it goes through the populist lens
As it relates to centrism, here are some “center” ideas –
If we take (policy) ideas such as the above into consideration where a majority of the American people are on board… fighting for these policies would make you a centrist.
– Meddle America
Centrist Politics
A centrist is one who fights for the median option, the average, the most consented and agreed upon view. So, is a politician who fights against these popular ideas a centrist? We don’t think so.
Coincidentally, these example policy ideas are actual provisions in a current bill making its way through Congress. We can bore you with the details; however, for the purposes of this blog post, we’ll just give a brief summary and discuss the ramifications of being opposed to supporting the bill.
Build Back Better
In short, H.R.5376 — 117th Congress (2021-2022) is better known as “The Build Back Better” bill. It is a framework that allocates spending power into social safety programs… AKA things that help average families like mine and yours. Provisions in the bill include an expansion of healthcare so that America can truly compete with our allies on a national stage when it comes to health outcomes. It also includes provisions to help strengthen American families and includes things like paid family leave.
Again, we can go into each provision to share why it’s so important to have funding allocated to social safety programs such as the ones mentioned previously, but we won’t do that here for brevity.
Support for BBB as a “Centrist” in DC
The afore-mentioned provisions are incredibly popular, and they were what the House and Senate Democrats talked about to sell the bill. Initially, it was a proposed $10 Trillion over the course of 10 years. However, “moderate” or “centrist” Democrats, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, refuse to back the bill citing spending costs.
It is worth noting that Manchin enjoys $400,000 of funding from fossil fuel industries just in the third quarter. For reference, he raised $1.6 million total, so that’s about 25% of his funding. Meanwhile, he opposes any policy that can substantially combat climate change. Sinema is also receiving the max contributions from the largest players in the pharmaceutical industry and refuses to speak to her constituents. It’s also worthwhile to note that she did this all while objecting to expanding healthcare and prescription drug price reforms.
When confronted about why they will not back the BBB, the two politicians (especially Sinema) avoid the topic and quite literally pretend the questioner doesn’t exist.
With this background, we’d like to bring it back to our main discussion for this post: defining the center.
Centrism – A Conclusion
As discussed previously, the center is wherever public perception is. One can easily find popular political ideology by simply conducting a Google Search. Any person with an internet connection can do it. As Mehdi Hassan pointed out, the center can move. However, this centrist perspective can serve as an asset to help lawmakers gauge the needs of those who they were elected to serve.
Politicians who support their constituents in guaranteeing their basic needs – those politicians are reflective of the true American center. Those politicians are helping us to achieve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those who oppose the country’s center stand in the way of that basic tenet that America’s Founding Fathers hoped for — and let’s be clear about this basic reality: politicians who oppose the majority are not the center. They are extremists.
Looking ahead
In totality, centrism can be viewed as a strategy as Lieberman says – this is fine. However, it depends on where we are setting our goalposts. If the two counterpoints aren’t that radical (read: different) and don’t reflect the needs of the populace, then that center will be skewed. We implore you to keep this school of thought in mind for posts to follow.