Hi Mike, On Mar 10, 2011, at 5:42 AM, Mike Gonzalez wrote:
> Isn't the commonality between liberalism and conservatism that both > ideologies are closer to pure rationalism than a fusion of rationalism > and empiricism? Our issue, as centrists, is that we demand more > rigorous debate and testing of theories before they're implemented. > I'd argue that we're pragmatists, the fusion of rationalism and > empiricism, and that we favor government that is more aligned with the > principles of the modern scientific method, where experiments must be > explainable (rational) and repeatable (empirical). Very well said. > That would make the centrist disagreement with libs and cons > fundamental and ideological, which means that we're not "centrists" on > the political scale at all. We just get the name "centrists" because > of our proclivity to picking the best ideas from either faction. We > don't have to concentrate on centering ourselves either, as we can > still believe in objective truth, which is revealed through rigorous > thought and experimentation. Yes, that is why those of us on this list chose the term "radical centrists" -- in that we're trying to get at the "objective root" of things via empirical questions, rather than engaging in pure philosophy (or simple triangulation). Welcome! Sorry we've been so quiet lately, but one of our main contributors (Billy) has been sans computer. Barry, any update on that? -- Ernie P. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
