I was just thinking what a person with a point of view right in the middle would be like. What I came up with was a person who responds to questions like this:
"Whatever".
"I don't really care".
"Do what you want".
Vote for my pet rock in 2008!
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Not quite....
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Hmm...I think a person in the middle would be one who sometimes goes with the conservative view and sometimes goes with a more liberal one.
For example, it's possible to be a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, or vice versa. History is full of examples, I think.
In reading OSC, for example, I think he's very much a social conservative, but he's expressed some extremely liberal views on fiscal issues. I'm not sure how he views himself on these matters, mind you, but I think he's a good example of someone "in the middle" if you averaged out where he stands on social versus fiscal issues.
There are other ways to be "in the middle." Shoot, these days anyone to the center of the party's radical fringe is a centrist.
Or so it seems.
I don't think those people have a "don't care" attitude. I think they care very deeply, but see the issue from more than one viewpoint.
Posted by Little_Doctor (Member # 6635) on :
Oh, I definetly agree with you Bob. I was just imagining a cartoony sort of vision. Where you have conservatives on the right, liberals on the left, and in the middle you get the "I agree with what you said, but you are totally wrong" people. I could see it being in one of those political cartoons. Just to poke fun, you know?
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Being "in the middle" could also mean that some of your views are a compromise between the liberal and conservative views. For example, wanting to ban certain (limited) types of weapons, and conduct background checks, but not require licenses, training, a waiting period, a cap on the number of guns owned, etc. Of course, most people probably won't agree on what the middle ground is. Though you can bet that if the conservatives think something is left-wing, and the liberals think the same thing is right-wing, it might be approaching moderate. This is why I don't believe the media have a strong bias either way--both sides complain. (Certain media outlets, perhaps, but not media as a whole. The media are biased toward sensationalism and making money, in my opinion.)
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
I feel like I am fairly "middle ground" if only for the fact that I seem to be ambivalent about nearly everything.
Man, do *not* vote for me. I would never get anything accomplished.
Meh.
Posted by Portabello (Member # 7710) on :
Actually, a political leader that didn't do hardly anything would be a big improvement at times...
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Another interesting thing is to combine ideas from both sides. For example, I would love to see a pro-life group that actively pushes birth control, but most of them generally just push abstinence, both from sex and abortions. Heck, most of the pro-choice people also support widespread availability of birth control. Why not get both groups together to jointly encourage birth control? The pro-choice people are happy because access to birth control is part of reproductive choice; the pro-life people are happy because abortions don't happen when the pregnancy doesn't happen in the first place.
Granted, this doesn't quite work because some people don't agree with contraception itself, and others don't want to encourage contraception because they don't want to encourage sex. But if it really does reduce the number of abortions, I'm all for it.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
quote:Actually, a political leader that didn't do hardly anything would be a big improvement at times...
Vote Calvin Coolidge. (Now even better since he's dead!)
Posted by Portabello (Member # 7710) on :
Brilliant!
Posted by Misha McBride (Member # 6578) on :
quote:Vote Calvin Coolidge. (Now even better since he's dead!)
How can they tell?
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
He moves more.
Posted by memory_guilded (Member # 8092) on :
I'm in the "middle" and I have extremely strong viewpoints. My thoughts on abortion and affirmative actions are conservative, while I'm a strong supporter of environmental responsibility, gay rights, and marijuana legalization.
I think those who say "whatever" or "it doesn't really affect me" aren't in the middle- they're just dumb. lol
~M
Posted by Little_Doctor (Member # 6635) on :
I don't know if i consider myself in the middle. Personally, I live a more conservative lifestyle. But my political views are mostly liberal. It puts me in doubt sometimes.
Posted by johnsonweed (Member # 8114) on :
Labels are a bother. I am what I am, which is a collection of my experiences and lessons. What I try not to do is pigeon hole my opinions as being either liberal or conservative.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I switched off Rush Limbaugh when he made a similar statement--that those who were not completely Pro-Life or Pro-Choice were just mamby pamby people without an opinion.
While being opinionless is being neither Left nor Right, it is not being Moderate.
Its being able to listen to both the cares and fears of each side, addressing them, and coming up with a solution that works.
And doing so without calling anyone Satan, Idiot, or Nazi.
Being a moderate is talking to people who disagree with you, not yelling at them.
Being a moderate is listening and judging on your own from both sides, not assuming one is right and one is wrong.
Being a moderate means that you avoid dangerous extremes just in case you are not completely right.
Being a moderate involves thinking, not following.
I am a moderate.
I am a follower of the third path.
Whenever someone says "You are either with us or against us." I respond "No I am."
Whenever I am stuck between A rock and a Hard Place I choose niether.
Whenever I am forced to choose between A or B I choose C.
The secret when forced to choose between two things is to choose between.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Some of the Conservatives has already degraded the term liberal. Now there are a few who are trying to degrade the term Moderate.
Posted by Portabello (Member # 7710) on :
From both sides.
Posted by Avatar300 (Member # 5108) on :
I would say that many people from all political persuasions attempt to degrade any position that does not match their own.
Posted by Pelegius (Member # 7868) on :
I am a moderate. Being a moderate, to means being between two parties on different sides. As I am between the Christian Democrats, a moderate right-wing party, and the Social Democrats, a moderate left-wing party, I am very moderate. Except that I am an American, so I guess most of my contrymen would call me liberal. All motion is reletive, so is all politics.