Stuck in the Middle

Not so long ago, I used to be a very politically charged person.

Well, let me qualify, because I think there is a difference between politically charged and obsessed.  I used to obsessed about politics, and about submitting to some kind of political ideology that would hopefully define me as a person.  This was the reason I wanted to come to D.C.  I wanted to get a journalism degree so I could hound people in the Capital and fully immerse myself in the rough and tumble world of U.S. politics.  In a way, being political was probably supposed to define me, or something.


These days, whether its by apathy or a greater perspective, I cant bring myself to care less about any sort of political ideology or party affiliation.  I think as politics became less important to me I started caring less about having to call myself anything.  Right now, I call myself a moderate, and the results of it really interest me.

The thing I find most interesting about being a moderate is that you either cause gentle cooperation from both sides or intense hatred, and there doesn't seem to be any sort of middle ground.  Though both sides can agree with you, it also means both sides disagree with you.  So, tentatively, as a Democrat, you only have to defend yourself against Republicans, but a moderate gets to defend himself against everyone.

Why is there such a disincentive in our society to be in the middle?  As a society, we have invented alot of pejorative terms for people who are in the middle: wishy washy, waffler, lukewarm, half-ass.  As humans, I think we tend to want to see things in black and white, because, lets face it, things like politics are alot easier to deal with if you have one giant rubric that you judge everything from.  The harder path is to see the middle ground in political conflicts and be able to put yourself out there in saying that both sides are true and false at the same time.

I, personally, wouldn't apply this to all things (though many do), because I believe in universal truth.  I believe there is good and evil, which is why I want to qualify myself and say that I think there are some things that no one should be in the middle about.  I dont think its good to be a "moderate" about sex trafficking, slavery, fascism, or (to be controversial. hehe.) something like abortion.  These are issues that demand action, and therefore demand a firm resolve in your thinking about them.  I once heard it explained that people have two hands, one is open and the other is firmly closed.  Each hand represents the beliefs you have, and in the open hand you have the beliefs you're willing to let go, and in the firm hand the beliefs you aren't.

I guess my main beef with politics is that, furthering the analogy, people seem to put the most insignificant things in their closed hands, and are unwilling to compromise.  For instance, conservative bug me because they cant seem to ever accept that maybe health care reform isnt such a bad idea, and that paying some extra taxs isnt so terrible.  Liberals annoy me because they cant seem to ever accept that Keynsian spending programs are not a cure all, and never truly further any free-market reforms like Tort Reform.

So whats the solution?  I leave you with a simple saying, what my pastor told me long ago:

"Govern from the middle."

~Jared