First let’s get this straight. The way the term “centrist” is being applied today as some kind of put down in our party is absolutely ridiculous. In our nation right now the Overton Window has shifted so far to the right that what used to be mainstream Democratic principles (which were also shared by more reasonable past Republicans) are where the political center is now.
While I greatly appreciate and applaud socialistic ideals, they are not a fit for every part of life. They are however a natural fit for health care, building roads and bridges, police and fire departments, education and, (surprise) the military. Every Democrat I know acknowledges that. But one look at history at attempts to install pure socialist governments where most major businesses are nationalized ALWAYS turned to authoritarianism in the form of communism. No matter how pure the intents were to completely erase the division of wealth and power, an authoritarian presence would always find its way into the ruling body and govern by fear and intimidation while those very rulers lived lavish lifestyles far beyond their “equal” citizens.
I however am a Democrat like many other Democrats and independents that truly appreciate the incredible life I lead because of SOME of the paths of capitalism. I retired last year and my 401k is robust and will give me comfort and security through my remaining years. I worked (and currently do part time) for businesses that built themselves up in our capitalistic society, some of those businesses like family to me, others more greedy and a target for more regulation. My own wealth and power however, despite the ethos of those corporations, grew every time. I was also lucky not to have disaster strike and made the right choices during wild financial swings.
The most successful nations on Earth throughout history (and correspondingly the ones with the happiest and most secure citizens) are not pure socialistic empires but a very equal mix of capitalism and socialism (hey that sounds like centrism). The socialism includes a very healthy safety net and there are strong regulations on the capitalistic side that ensure monopolies don’t form such power that they are untouchable and environmental and safety restrictions are there to protect citizens and workers. Their corporations are headed up by the same kinds of people as ours but they have evolved to understand that the balance keeps them wealthy and stress free. In most of those countries, the businesses are free to not have to provide health care and other parts of the social safety net to their employees so more of their resources can go into actually delivering their product. Their employees are happy and healthy and well educated. The CEO’s may not have 3 yachts but they certainly have 1.
That truly centrist nations are the historical model for success is undisputed by anyone that studies economics or history.
We are in this period where our nation has slid so far towards the fascist side of things that the knee jerk reaction is to counter that move with the opposite extreme and demonize the people that are trying their best to return it to that healthy mix.
People think of the ideological spectrum as a line where liberalism/progressivism/socialism exist on the left and conservatism/fascism exist on the right. The truth of the matter is (and this is firmly backed up by history), that spectrum exists as a circle with the extremes of the two sides converging in dictatorial authoritarianism.
I caution the Democrats on this site to stop with this derogatory labeling of people that see the gray in life, that understand that while evil exists in entities like Wall St and major corporations headed by greedy CEO’s and board members, there also exists lots of very ethical and hard working people within those entities that actually care about others and see the advantage in keeping their customers satisfied, healthy, and educated. All sides in our debates are guilty of ramping up rhetoric but the nastiest stuff right now is coming from the hard core left purists accusing anyone not working for a socialist nirvana of being complicit with the evil doers. It’s the farthest thing from the truth. No true centrist I know (and there are millions of them) approves of anything coming from the right right now. They all want some form of socialized health care. They all want strong environmental regulations making our food, water, and air healthy. They want their taxes going to the finest educational system in the world.
Leaders like Biden, Obama, Clinton, Kennedy, even FDR knew that there was a hybrid relationship that needed to be forged with powerful corporations. That compromise from our leaders (and some past Republicans) helped to make our nation the envy of the world. We’re not right now but the answer doesn’t lie in swinging us so far to the left that the historical dangers of that kind of move present themselves. It merely requires us to set the Overton Window back to normal.