The View From the Middle

The View From the Middle

Did you know that, according to Politico, almost 40% of Americans (38% to be exact) consider themselves to be independents when it comes to their party affiliation?  In fact, since only 31% think they are Democrats and 29% align with the Republican Party, Independents are the largest political party in America today.  These numbers differ from, and are more significant than, voter registration figures since so many states require voters to declare Democratic or Republican affiliation to be able to vote in the primaries.  This is why both parties are desperately searching for candidates who can appeal to these true non-partisan people who represent the middle of America.  But wait, there are even more people who are “in the middle”, politically speaking.  When you toss in the conservative, blue dog Democrats and the liberal Republicans, they will undoubtedly add another 40% of the populous to the center of America.  Yet, despite the fact that roughly 80% of the country is NOT an extreme version of either political party; it seems that it is the extreme elements of both parties that occupy Washington D.C. and are constantly trying to tell us how to best run the country and resolve all of our fiscal and social issues.  The big question for me is, “should we be listening to them, or should THEY be listening to US?”

The reality is that there are positive aspects of both the liberal and conservative positions on almost any issue as well as negatives.  I encourage you to read the most recent platform documents for both the Democratic and the Republican parties.  Combined, they are about 120 pages long and the clearest point they make is that they don’t particularly like each other, and pretty much blame each other for all of our woes.  Just a side note here – in 1964 the Democratic platform was 11 pages long and in 1864 the Republican platform was one page long.  Of course Lincoln was managing through a civil war and was well known for his brevity, but the question remains; is this progress or just complexity that actually hinders understanding?  Am I the only one who longs for the simplicity of the good old days?

Ok, back to the content of the platforms.  The good news is that they do not disagree on “what” the problems are.  They just disagreed on “how” to solve them.  Neither party, for example, wants stupid kids and no one ran on a platform of fiscal irresponsibility.  They each, of course, promise to deliver smart kids and balanced budgets by implementing their particular policies, or their “hows”.  You would think that if they really are going to fix the same problems, then their plans would be very similar, but they aren’t.  That is because of the basic difference between the two parties, which you will find in their platform preambles.  To summarize, the Democratic Party believes in a bigger government with more control and regulation to guide the American people.  The Republican Party believes in private sector solutions and individual responsibility and a government that performs some very limited functions like defense, infrastructure and law enforcement, etc. Actually, there is merit in both of these visions for government.

Even President Obama suggests that we should have a “healthy skepticism” about the role of government in our lives.  And, lest 1984 should become more than just a date and a novel, we must be vigilant about giving up too much of our freedom even if the government promises to provide for all of our needs.  On the other hand, we have proven over and over that man has the capability to be selfish, greedy and even cruel in our quest for self-promotion.  Just look back to Enron, Goldman Sachs and the recent housing collapse.  We need SOME regulation to protect us from ourselves. So, the best solutions will, and should, come from a blend of these two visions - a view from the middle.

The extreme elements in Washington (liberal and conservative) can’t or won’t accept the positive aspects of the other party’s stance and constantly defend the obvious shortcomings of their own positions.  They must believe it is more important to protect their political ideology than it is to find truth or compromise.  The beautiful thing about “We the People” in the middle of the American belief system is that we don’t have to confine ourselves to only one of the political parties’ approaches to any issue.  We can choose to accept positive elements from both sides of any position and develop a hybrid idea that can actually work.

So, if you are interested in truth, compromise and progress, take off the partisan blinders and really listen with your heart and mind.  Real wisdom can be found in the middle, and the view from the middle is what can provide real solutions instead of the gridlock we so often find in Washington.