Middle Matters

Simply looking one sees the answer.

It's everywhere.

It's everything.

From see-saws to scales to foreign and domestic policies to sociopolitical philosophies.

No need to spin and twist the reality to fit a terrified ideology's desperate subjectiveness; no need to frantically search in frustrated adulthood for what was so obviously absent in vulnerable youth. Resorting to measures that are extreme in nature and possessed of an often jolting dynamic can be useful at times but not when it becomes the de facto response of a dying elephant, it's legendary heartiness finally betrayed by the toxic bile coursing through its veins for decades.

The answer is Balance. And it can be found in the middle.

Keeping a middle perspective allows the widest range of possibilities, the widest appreciation of all points of view and strategies. It offers a chance for true stability in an unstable world and it doesn't automatically exclude even the outrageous or the radical which reside where they belong: on the periphery. Because as we've seen too clearly for too long, when extremists are at the wheel, the car drives in tight, ever contracting circles. The time for experiments in boisterous ideologies is over.

Arlen Specter's move to what is ostensibly the middle, while welcome, may be motivated by purely political interests and will certainly be loudly derided by the shrill dead-enders who make up the shrinking but still pulsing hemorrhoid that is the Right Wing Media. But whatever his reason it is, at the end of the day and the beginning of an era, the smart move and will go a long way toward restoring the imbalance which has only just begun to be redressed. It is a signal for the wiser, though thoroughly cowed Republican moderates to begin their own ideological exodus toward a sensible middle ground.

Again, simply looking one sees the answer. It's everywhere and everything. For even on our deathbed one is irrestibly drawn into the basic truth defining our existence and of the universe itself: balance.

Declare your allegience to truth. March middleward.

Comments

[WriteStuffNYC]

In Stanislavski's Method (the Russian word more accurately translates as System) there are all sorts of "tricks" to aid an actor in preparing to give a good performance: affective memory, substitution, loaded objects, sense memory, etc. These were discovered with actors, codified and recorded by Stanislavski at the Moscow Art Theater, finding ways to do it better and better and better. They weren't dreamt up out of thin air, but tried and honed, tried again until these methods were known quantities and his System, reaching maturity, could be described in books and promulgated for the benefit of actors around the world.

But Stanislavski -- here's the point -- often said that these elements weren't always necessary. Even when some were helpful perhaps not all of them were necessary or even useful. He always prescribed chosing what and whether to use any of these techniques on a case-by-case basis, depending upon the actor's need at any given time. To the great inventor of Method Acting, the System was simply whatever was needed to get you through to the desired place. The lesson here for politics and for governance is: ideology be damned. If you're in a position to lead, identify what needs to be done -- ONLY that -- and then do it. Any slavish adherence to unnecessary exercizes will lead to the worst overacting, and when it comes to the folks who hold the reigns of power, it's the bad actors who hold the most potential to create misery for

[graffen48]

Well said. Adherence to rigidity and the mind numbing repetitiveness of dogma creates a self hypnosis or "mini" nirvana in some people. It placates them. They don't have to worry, or think too much about thinking. This is one obvious reason there hasn't been an original thinker on the right since William Buckley Jr. It's much easier to regurgitate the mantra of "stars" like Palin or Limbaugh, which is unfortunate for the masses because there is absolutely no intellectual credibility, just more rehashed versions of older right wing ideas. Its amazing and so much better to be alive and aware, and i thank my inner self for keeping an open and curious mind about life,love the world, the universe politics etc etc.I don't say i know the truth, but i can say I'm doing my best to try and find it.

[WriteStuffNYC]

The "tenets" of the Neo-Con ideology are based not on good governance but on sloganeering, salesmanship. The Karl Roves (et al) of the Neo-Con Right took the conservative ideas of Goldwater and Buckley, boiled them down into rock candy and vended them at a penny apiece to the American electorate. They even got a former TV pitch man to hawk them nationally -- Ronald Reagan. Those candies tasted sweet enough that people loved them, allowing themselves to be hoodwinked that the rock candies were nutritious and would make America strong 12 ways. Well, turns out the Neo-Con candy gave the country tooth decay and diabetes. America has been brought into the ER, where they had to amputate a foot, and now they're just trying to clear up the gangrene and save the patient. It's long past time to eschew the Neo-Con sugar snacks in favor of some things that will actually grow strong bodies.

[sunny123]

If we didn't have the far left pushing the far right, nothing new would ever be accomplished. We need both sides to find a middle. Just slogging along the middle means no growth, no new ideas, no changes for bad previous ideas. We need both the far left and right to push the pendulum toward the middle.

Look at our Supreme Court for how the pendulum swings. It keeps us honest. We don't always agree, but we do have change only because someone is courageous enough to step way out for what they believe.

We need them how more than ever before. We had become so complacent with conservativism that is look like we are really going left when all we are really doing is moving back to center.

[4httr]

While the GOP has never been as "big tent", as Democrats across it's political spectrum, it did have a broader membership especially in the Northeast and Midwest. Nelson Rockefeller, Hugh Scott and Everett Dirksen represented their party in a dignified thoughtful way while holding centrist positions on most issues. They would fail the litmus test required by today's version of the GOP. God, guns and Roe v Wade are the themes that define the prototypical Republican in office now. Long time Senator Richard Lugar may be an exception to that model. Despite a serious beat down in the polls, the rabid base of that party insists that shifting harder right is the next step. Their failure to recognise that most Americans are unwilling to accept their stark and uncompromising vision of America , will certainly limit their viability outside of their tribal regions in the South .

[Dave Hackel - Huffpost Blogger]

Good post, Steven.

Sanity is seldom found at the extreme end of either side of an issue. It almost always exists where cooler heads prevail. In the middle.

Let us hope.

[bbbear]

Probably true. Yet The USA has drifted so far to the right, that what was once, decades ago, a moderate Republican, in today's USA, can now only be regarded as a true blue very left liberal. I know that because i was once a moderate Eisenhower Republican who, like Ike, believed in Universal Health care, the right to own a gun, keeping a close watch on the Pentagon/War Industry, and fiscal responsibly. Yet today I still have the same values and fit very well within the politics of Senator Bernie Sanders who calls himself a Social Democrat.
My point being, the extreme end of a thing is always relative, and so is the so-called middle.

[Spud777]

Not really, there are only two other republican "moderate" senators, both from Maine and popular so don't count on them switching. I do not know of any "moderate" congressmen. Most are from the South and with their gerrymandered districts are probably safe. The real issue is will America have a viable two party system which in my view is vital. The party in power always becomes drunk with this power and they become arrogant and self-serving. History proves this so there is no debate about it really. America improves with viable two party input, we do not have that today.

[Dynamohum]

one word - HOOEY.

[bbbear]

IMHO, we've long had what can only honestly be referred to as a one party system. It has two factions, Democrats and Republicans. I think of it as the Corporate Party which is funded by Big Money Lobby. The glue that holds the two factions together is in their collusion to keep the electoral college, which insures all other party's are small and insignificant, as well as Big Money Lobby where good little retired politicians go to make million dollar salaries after they retire from politics.
Now that the nation is shifting a bit to the left, the Republican faction seem a bit nutty. The more we shift to the left, the more insane they will seem. . If the drift continues we may even manage to dampen Big Money Lobby enough to rid ourselves of the electoral college. If not, what is now the Ultra Right Wing Republican faction/Party will eventually be replaced by a more moderate group. They may even change their name in order to get rid of the stench of the last 3 decades.

[Rockwell]

You say the Republican middle has been cowed. I say it is nonexistent.

Specter is not Moses showing GOP moderates the way to the Promised land. He's the Omega Man, finally crushed by the shrieking mutants.

[bbbear]

I tend to agree.

[RepugsOut08]

Specter is the politician who read his polls and found out he couldn't get nominated as a Republican. He switched parties hoping he could live another day. If the PA Dems have any sense at all, they'll pit him against a real Dem, and retire him. He's the Repub's Leiberman.

[oneherenow]

I agree that *most* times the body politic is best governed from the middle ground, with requisite checks and balances in place and attention paid to building consensus. Most times, yes. But not now..! The body politic is too sick for routine procedures.

Like the helper and suppressor white blood cells of a healthy immune system, liberals and conservatives cooperate in a shifting ratios and balances of power (sometimes in even complete alternation of power). Both are needed, but in different numbers and at different times. Sometimes we do need the (suppressor cell) conservatives to damp down our run-away responses to the ever changing and seemingly ever growing set of problems. But now is an exceptional time. We have elected a true majority government for a purpose: to get the urgent work underway--to begin the healing and rebuilding of our economy, our government, our country, and our planet. Change we can believe in.

The Republicans see this as change they can NOT believe in.. I wonder what would be the compromise, middle-of-the-road position for these unhappy passengers who now are throwing their wooden shoes (and on occasion even some of themselves) under the wheels of Obama's 21st Century Evergreen Express... Throwing fewer shoes..? They should sit down on a bench and be quiet for a little while. It's not their turn any more...

[rozboy]

Or he might be pulling a Liebermann by changing political parties for re-election, then ease back to the right when the coast is clear.

Sometimes I hate being cynical...

[rozboy]

I think more Republican senators and congresspeople want to make that switch, but political loyalties stand in the way. Switching parties shouldn't be as important as standing by your principles and doing what is morally and ethically right for this country.

All we can do now is sit back and watch the extreme right just crackle and cackle with hatred and vitriol.

[bbbear]

IMHO, Rabid Sports fans and political ideologues function on the same level. To them,switching political parties, or teams is, as irrational as it sounds, akin to being a traitor. That's one reason I'm an Independent, albeit one who leans left, and rarely always back the same team or player.

[rejoyce5]

I don't need a liberal democrat to tell me which way to move. You tend to your party and I'll tend to mine.

[Spud777]

No problem rejoyce5. If you want to the part of the Grand Obstructionist Party and the Party of NO that is your choice. It is not helping improve life in America, but you are free to chose, many Service Personnel died to give you that right.

[ignoranceequalsfear]

Then perhaps you shouldn't read it.

Just a suggestion.

[TigersEye]

I've often wondered if the people who don't seek balance know how off kilter they really are.

[susanlno]

Still, I would caution against seeking the middle ground for its own sake--that's long been the Democrats' excuse for moving their party so far to the right and calling it the "center."

[Buddy McCue]

Spot on. That's absolutely what the Democrats have been doing.

A good illustration of how far to the right that the "center" has travelled is a comparison of the domestic policies of Presidents Nixon and Clinton.

Nixon imposed wage and price controls, indexed Social Security for inflation, and created Supplemental Security Income (SSI). He created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and implemented the Philadelphia Plan, the first significant federal affirmative action program.

Comparatively, Bill Clinton's policies seem conservative: the welfare reform bill, NAFTA, GATT, farm deregulation, telecommunications deregulation and financial services deregulation, all of these things moved policy in a market-oriented direction.

[Spud777]

Well said. Remember they take the same corporate lobbyist money as the republicans so they still do what their corporate masters demand. As the say, America has the best government Money can Buy. So True.

[RepugsOut08]

Great post, Steven. Your comments reminded me of the movie "Little Buddha." The prince, Siddhartha, gave up his wealthy existance to search for the way one must live their life. He first believes he must be as far from his old life of luxury as possible, living in extreme poverty as he seeks to attain true enlightenment.
However, extreme poverty offers no more enlightenment than extreme wealth had given him. Then, one day, he hears a passing musician tuning his stringed instrument. At last the answer is clear. Unwind the string until it is too lose, and the instrument cannot play. Wind the string too tight, and it will break. One must seek the middle way.
Like all good advice, it's not always easy to follow, but it's sure worth the effort to try. The Limbaughs, Becks and Bachmanns of the Republican party, are winding that string so tight, no sensible person will want to be near it when it's breaks. Welcome aboard, Senator Spector. Or maybe I should say, Senator Grasshopper. ;)

[ignoranceequalsfear]

"the shrinking but still pulsing hemorrhoid that is the Right Wing Media"

......Thanks Steven! I needed that laugh! And so accurate too.

As they say, Evolve or perish. The repuglickans refuse to evolve. (Many even refuse to believe in Evolution!)

[kaukerc]

Even though I was rather dubious when I first heard the news (I still vividly recall the Anita Hill hearings), I am hopeful that THIS, finally, is the wake-up call to the Republican party that they are about as relevant today as a pay phone. I still have yet to decide if having Arlen Specter the democratic nominee for the Pennsylvania senate seat is a smart decision or just downright stupid. I guess the next 12 months will be the deciding factor.