Hello Solomon: I see value in what you are saying but I think you may be missing the emerging power of the liberty movement, especially among youth. I notice a large age gap on this issue. Older folks like us may be stuck in some old ways of thinking. As I have exposed myself to the liberty community it has become apparent that this is a vibrant and growing coalition.
Kevin You're making some fundamental misreadings about independents. All that independent means, in the context of politics, is you're not a member of a party. The majority of us are already centrists and moderates, but some are roughly as ideologically to the left and right as democrats and republicans, while a very vocal minority are off on the fringes, like Libertarians and Greens (among smaller groups). There is no such thing as a default for such a diverse classification. People change their minds slowly, and emotionally. Spending time trying to reason someone out of an opinion that is hard wired into their brains because of ideological reasons is almost always a waste of time. You'd get much more out of finding people who already largely agree with you and working to get them more involved in politics. Libertarians aren't competing for the same people as centrists are - not even close. They're farther away from the center than your average democrat or republican. Rejecting the two major parties does not mean you share common goals on a wide range of issue. Plus libertarians are a truly small subsection of the American Electorate. You're wasting your time with them, when there are geometrically more people out there who already are in agreement with centrist ideals - they just are used to not having any political actors represent their views and have become largely disengaged in politics. -- 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 -- 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
