Hi Billy, Thanks for sharing this, although I think I've seen it before. Ah, 2007:
http://www.mockingeye.com/index.php/2007/12/18/radical-centrism/ He does link to the wikipedia article, so he knows we and the NAF exist, but apparently wanted to chart his own definition. -- Ernie P. On Jan 26, 2010, at 10:38 AM, [email protected] wrote: > Not sure what to make of this. The author doesn't understand our view of RC, > but --for the moment , anyway-- maybe this is a good thing. The > interpretation > presented here of what RC is all about does have the merit of starting > from a fresh perspective. > > Our cafeteria approach to politics, really crucial to most of us ( pick and > choose > as a high virtue ) is missed, however, as is the East Coast ( New America > Foundation ) > "think outside the box:" approach, which, for each of us is what we are all > about. > But this new approach has other virtues that seem to be worth discussion > down the line. Very thoughtful stuff. > > Billy > > =============================================== > > The Mocking Eye > > ‘Tis all in vain? > > Radical Centrism > > You are trying to decide what policy best helps the environment, or how to > improve the lot of the poor, or maybe you just need to know how to vote in > the primaries. > > Let’s have a look at the field: the right is too religious, war-mongering, > corporatist and at times overly naive. The left is too socialist, bleeding > heart, protectionist, and at times overly pessimistic. Libertarians are too > crazy, sociopathic, self-centered, and at all times overly utopian. And those > are just three of the biggest ones. > > Of course,these are generalization, and don’t apply to large swathes of the > demographics represented by these labels. But there are fundamental problems > with all these world-views, as well as any others that choose a way to view > the world and their favourite method to tackle its problems before doing > anything else. > > Introducing Radical Centrism. My conception of the idea is a little bit > similar to the radical center movement, but differs in what makes it radical. > The movement’s name is derived from “radical” indicating “extreme”. My > Radical Centrism takes its name from the non-political meaning of the term > which arose from the latin “radix” meaning “root”. Thus, Radical Centrism > views the problems of political ideologies to be buried deep with their very > roots–their base assumptions and methodologies. > > Radical Centrism holds these positive values: > > Reason > This is the method by which any ideas must be described and deliberated. > > Patience > Rushing into decisions usually has more dire consequences than being too late. > > Compassion > It is better to do something that helps someone than something that doesn’t > hurt anyone. > > And pledges these negative ones: > > No Assumptions > A problem cannot have any axioms. Priors must be dealt with according to > positive considerations above. > > No Axis > Locating oneself on any ideological axis when solving a problem introduces > invisible assumptions that will prevent arriving at a preferable solution. > > No Conclusions > Never make final decisions. Always be ready to update your priors and your > solutions. > > _______________________________________________ > Centroids mailing list: [email protected] > http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com > Archives at > http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
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