Centrism is a word you hardly hear. Centrism doesn’t whip people up, boil blood, sell news, or necessarily move mountains. To many, centrism is at the very least boring and at worst, a pipe dream that’s too hard to reach and ultimately too weak to succeed.

The political centrist is a black sheep of both parties, hated when stepping into the other’s territory, but welcomed when stepping back. The centrist is a chameleon, constrained by no one interest, but at the same time, bound by consideration of all. The centrist is guided by one certainty: that he or she has chosen a difficult path. A path that will lead to a position of never being fully embraced or disowned. The centrist inhabits the political ether that defies easy definition, where soundbites don’t stick, flip-flopping is meaningless, and action is governed by the facts of the past, feeling of the present, and best guesses at the future. As the most fluid and most able to build coalitions, The centrist is arguably the most powerful piece on the political chess board.

Unfortunately for all of us, the centrist is a rare animal. And we’re to blame for that.

We’ve made politics into the shouting match that it is. We’ve supported through our votes and rallies, the principle that majority takes all and minority be damned. And in this age of razor-thin electoral margins and polarization, we’ve settled entirely into either the majority or minority role at any given moment. Because of this refusal to budge from our respective side, we’re locked in an everlasting process of trying to pull the pendulum as far back to our side as we can once we regain the momentum to do so.

We’re at a pivotal stage in global politics. It’s a time when catastrophe is the word of the day. It’s a moment when we can do any number of things and walk on any number of paths. And if we keep wrenching the pendulum further and further from its center point, we might eventually break it entirely to the point where our political process no longer works. If we want to avoid that, then we need to start asking some important questions.

The simplest is, why do we seem to want cooperation in politics, yet elect those who are incapable of it? Why do we support an all-or-nothing approach so adamantly while screaming for bipartisanship? Well, you certainly don’t accomplish “bipartisan solutions” by electing die-hard conservatives or liberals to office. I think we need to ask ourselves, do we desire bipartisanship out of a genuine desire for unity and a collaborative political process, or do we simply want the other side to be more like our side? It seems to me that the only reason that the word “bipartisan” exists is as a final, unconscious plea for the centrism that we’ve so rudely rejected.

I’m a centrist for a number of reasons. I find orthodox liberals and conservatives foolish because under either scenario of their strict majority, the world doesn’t work. Look no further than the current global damage to economies, the environment, and international relations brought about by unbridled deregulation, lack of scientific scruples, and hawkish foreign policy. But before you focus too much on the failings of the right, shoot a glance at the damage to state economies brought about by endless spending in good times, the exodus of jobs under the burden of higher taxes, and the looming fiscal catastrophes in the systems of entitlements. If both political sides ignore the problems created by their own, then you get a situation where nobody is right, yet nobody is wrong. That’s not exactly a recipe for good decision making.

I am a centrist because I loathe extremism. Whether it’s an activist throwing a molotov cocktail at an animal research facility or a religious fanatic shooting an abortion doctor in church, I oppose those who act out their ideologies with hatred, violence, and ignorance. I oppose them because I myself was guilty and I have the good sense now to feel shame at my past actions. I don’t have to look farther than my own writings where I’ve spit venom at people I’ve never met to support positions I never truly took the time to think over.

But on a more basic level, being a centrist immunizes me from supporting foolish ideas simply because some in a party do. Ideas like halting all animal research, returning to a gold standard, abolishing taxes, withdrawing troops from unstable regions, or denying climate change. Compromising principles and ignoring facts is not up my alley, so centrism is the logical conclusion.

And I don’t think I’m alone. I don’t honestly think that half my country believes one thing and the other half believes another with no mixing and matching. And that’s what gives me hope that we’ll migrate out of our comfort zone into closer range of those we call our enemies who labor and live under the same flag.

Centrism is not inaction. It’s not weakness. It’s not sitting on the fence or dancing on third base when the catcher drops the ball. Centrism is strength through adaptation, understanding, and willingness to listen. And centrism in politics, thought, life, and action is what will save this nation and indeed, the world itself.

*photo by Worak on Flickr Creative Commons