I want to home-in on this particular tenet and get to the heart of the point (tempered optimism + our brand of centrism = rational progressivism):
When pessimism infects centrism, it becomes angry populism. When apathy blends with centrism, it creates the traditional view of the lazy, valueless independent. What is needed, instead, is a tempered positivity in scientific centrism, channeling the best aspects of an ideology that believes in the application of workable solutions in individual, piecemeal fashion to civil society. Consequently, a rejection of pessimism and apathy in favor of sober belief in a society's ability to improve itself is an essential aspect of centrism. The result of this is a rational progressivism that supports testable change to improve the lot of the entire populace, rather than the traditional American progressivism which moves toward some moralistic utopia. -- 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
