This blog is called “MrCentrist”. This should give you some idea of what it’s about. For one thing, it suggests that there’s some sort of ideology that I want to express. Centrist ideology is a little different than your typical left-right spectrum. Instead of trying to move the country left or right, they’re looking for a balance among numerous ideologies. A centrist, is not looking for the Democrats (DEMs) or the Republicans (GOPs) to “win” exactly. They feel, and I feel, that the best policies are when all the various political parties are working together and negotiating. There is an underlying assumption here that liberal and conservative views are both equally valuable and non-mutually exclusive. This, however, doesn’t mean that like the mythical “unbiased journalist” we have no opinion or vested interest.
Quite the contrary. For one, I am never shy about formulating and sharing an opinion (hence this blog). For another, change, progress, movement, and all that other great stuff doesn’t really happen without some sense of decisiveness. We’re all here to do something. A life time of pondering is a little useless. Besides general utility, there’s another reason that Centrist won’t avoid crafting an opinion. There isn’t always a centrist argument between two conflicting views. I’ll give you an example. There’s no centrist position in the Autism-vaccine “debate”. This is a settled question. The link between autism and vaccines has been scientifically disproved. repeatedly. The guy who originally found such a link, Andrew Wakefield, was found guilty of fraud (and also, “dishonestly”. that’s the British for you), stripped of his medical license, and is an embarrassment to the entire scientific community. Further debate on this issue would simply be an enormous waste of time and money. Not to mention that when two sides debate one side is automatically given credibility and here no credibility exists therefore a debate is illogical. The centrist position on vaccines and autism is: how can we better inform the public and improve public health? This question now becomes a platform for a variety of different perspectives to voice their opinions and concerns in a productive fashion.
In an ideal world I would love to see various ideologies work together to promote solutions. In theory, that was supposed to be how the US government worked. However, in practice one side usually “wins” and sets policy for a short period of time before “losing” to the other side. We so love to have winners and losers in life. In the long term, it amounts to the same. Hopefully. Anyway. That’s why this blog is called, “MrCentrist”. Even if calling myself warrants some small amount of audacity, Centrism is still an ideal to which I aspire. And the Liberal walking with me into a tea shop? That’s my wife and she thinks I’m a neocon. So much for self-perception.
My Wife Calls Me A Neocon 