this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts
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Whenever I see a political thread here, it seems like the comment section is dominated by the most extreme of the left, with takes like "All right wingers are part of the MAGA crowd and advocating genocide" and "The right wing is weak, stupid, evil, and dangerous so we need to shut it down."
As a centrist (not a rightist,) I don't like this. We need rational discourse, not extremism and hate. Actually talk with reasonable people from outside your political circle please. (Reasonable people, not the right wing extremists that seem to be the only right-wingers y'all hear about.) Remember when we actually had a class struggle that made the people in power nervous instead of identity politics that get the working class fighting each other?
But then, most of the places I talk in are pretty politically left-leaning, so I guess being a centrist does make me look right-wing to a lot of people. I'm rarely seen pushing back against right-wing ideas, but that's because I rarely see right-wing ideas being presented (outside of leftists pointing at rightist ridiculousness) to push back against. That probably has to do with the internet as a whole leaning more left than right.
It depends on what you mean by being "centrist". In America the Democratic party IS the centrist party. If it wasn't for the small contingent of progressives in the Democratic party, they would actually just be a normal conservative party, but the party as a whole is still right of center, if not smack dab in the middle of it.
On the other hand, the Republican party has fully embraced the extreme far right tenants of fascism and are merely arguing over who gets to be it's leader. There is nothing "centrist" about them or their policies
Typically in my experience, most people who say they are centrists aren't moderates trying to find a balance, they are just conservatives who don't want to feel guilty about voting for the fascist party.
It's not a guilt thing for me. I've never voted for them, and I don't think they're fascist anyways. Not most of them, at least. The term's been pretty overapplied, which helps to radicalize.
I don't support either American political party. They're playing this radicalization game with each other, making it an effectively two-party system, gerrymandering, and doing whatever else to keep themselves in power. I'm planning to vote third party in the next election to at least take a step towards disrupting that.