Stuck in the Middle with Who?

By William L. Garvin

“Well I don't know why I came here tonight,
I got the feeling that something ain't right,
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs,
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you,
Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you,
Stuck in the middle with you.”
Lyrics by Stealers Wheel

It’s been said that an agnostic is really just an atheist without the courage of his convictions. In political terms, maybe that’s how we should define “moderates”—politicians without the courage of their convictions. In the popular but unexamined parlance, they will sacrifice their principles but call it “compromise” because they are “practical” or “pragmatic.” They certainly would not be an “ideologue” of any persuasion. They would probably regard Neville Chamberlain as a master in the art of compromise…or could they even recognize the nefarious “appeasement” in its hideous, clandestine disguise?

Looking ever more closely, just what is an “ideologue”? It’s defined as a “zealous or doctrinaire supporter of an ideology.” Continuing on, what is an “ideology”? Webster says it’s “1. Visionary theorizing; 2a. A systematic body of concepts esp. about human life or culture; 2b. a manner or the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture, 2c. the integrated assertions, theories, and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program.” Visionary? Systematic? Integrated? Why that doesn’t sound bad at all does it? That raises the question as to why political candidates of all stripes tend to be ideologues in the primaries but moderates in the general elections? In essence, they sacrifice their principles and beliefs to the centrist voter who has the least defined (but most easily abandoned!) political convictions. That’s why there’s not a dime’s bit of difference between the Democrat and Republican elements of the ruling class. Everybody is courting the squishy, moderate middle.

Maybe we should be thanking the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators for finally giving us a very clear picture of the leftist ideologue and the Tea Party for defining the conservative ideologue. Develop a very clear picture of the Wall Street protestors. That shouldn’t be very difficult. After all, they received three times as much media coverage in their first ten days as the Tea Party received in its first nine months. Now develop that mental picture of the Tea Party rallies. Make a choice, America. Which image of this country do you prefer?

On the left hand, you have the incessant cries to destroy capitalism and strident demands for social justice accompanied by the incessant and mind numbing thumping of drums. The “gimme, gimme, gimme” generation begs for forgiveness on all their debt and wants the government to give them “more, more, more” with no productive effort or contribution on their part. On the right hand, you have much larger crowds singing “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful.” They condemn the gargantuan growth of government and the bureaucratic strangulation of individual responsibility. They want to be left alone and believe they can run their own lives much better than the big government central planners. The left tramples the flag underfoot; the right raises it high overhead. The left turns public places into a pigsty; the right leaves their gathering places as clean as they found it. The leftist gathering is continually marred by arrests; the right is virtually free of violence.

The left expects a life of luxury but wants someone else to pay for it. They expect the results of success but think they can get there via a path of perpetual indolence. They want to be protected from risk, failure, trial and adversity. The right only demonstrates on weekends because they have to be back at work on Monday! Of course these are opposite ends of the political spectrum but maybe it’s time to have a clear cut choice. Both groups provide a vision for the future but most likely we’ll get stuck in the wishy-washy middle. Still, that will be an improvement on what we have today.