In the mid-1990s, I have traced this as far back as
1995 in letters
from that time period in my files, I first became
interested in Radical Centrism.
What appealed the most to me was how it was
possible, as an _expression_
of RC philosophy, to combine otherwise disparate
political positions
political platform. Not a hypocritical campaign
slogan, something
actually worth believing in.
In 1995 many of my Radical Centrist ideas were not
carefully thought through;
a few ideas that have become important in the 2000s
were not even on my radar
at the time. But here is a personal list of my 10
most important Radical Centrist
political positions. You are free to disagree, and
equally free to borrow
any or all of these ideas for your own purposes.
In each case the current identification of these
issues with Right or Left or Other
is indicated in 10 point typeface. Several are
neither Left or Right but are
Independent or Libertarian -or Radical Centrist,
i.e., a unique solution
to political problems.
10 Issues to identify
Radical Centrism with -in the public mind
The strongest possible opposition to
homosexuality.
This is not reflexive conservatism by any stretch
of the imagination.
Everything is research-derived and based
on behavioral science.
The case to be made is empirical and follows the
views of
some of the best known names in the history of
psychology.
Hard Right;
Liberal-inspired reasoning..
The strongest possible advocacy of gender
partnership values
in which men and women are seen as essential to
each other in
every way imaginable. The ideal should be clear
to one and all:
Marriage between men and women, child raising,
and personal
self-actualization as much as this can be done in
a nurturing family.
Anything that interferes with this value can only
be interpreted as
completely unacceptable and morally sick. This
necessarily means
the strongest possible criticism of pornography
of all kinds, but
making a distinction between hard porn and erotic
arts. This has
nothing to do with so-called soft porn or
sexually suggestive humor.
Liberal-inspired but congruent
with emphasis on family values
on the Right to the extent that
this is a fusion position. You can
also identify this position with
Libertarian values although a corollary
is that strong families need to be
part of healthy communities
that are
supportive of family formation and family success. Hence this is
also a communitarian
position.
-----
The strongest possible opposition to
Islam
(with the qualification that not all Muslims are
alike, and
the fact that none of this is intended to
indicate bias against
Arabs or Iranians or Pakistanis, etc, indeed,
ethnically
we are pro-Arab, pro-Iranian, pro-Pakistani, etc
)
This position is generally
identified with the Right but
in origin it has everything to do
with how Liberal values,
especially as found in the US
Constitution, are in
direct and almost total conflict
with Muslim values.
Strongly in favor of both Bible
study and Comparative Religion
in the schools
Bible study is associated with
the Right, Comparative Religion is generally
associated with the Left. The
specific approach desired is unique
to Radical Centrism and blends
Left and Right and "Other."
-----
The strongest possible agreement with
sociobiology / evolution.
Generally very supportive of science and social
science.
Liberal / classic Socialist (Not
contemporary so-called socialist)
The strongest possible desire for
creating new models for education
that take full advantage of online learning,
computer tech, etc
Neither Left nor Right; we are
simply interested in what works,
what is good, and how to make
the most of creative ideas.
-----
The strongest possible opposition to
strip mining of coal
(but otherwise pro-coal, pro-Keystone pipeline,
pro-natural gas)
Left - Liberal viewpoint.
Congruent with parts of Green politics.
But also congruent with some
conservative objectives.
Critical of both Keynes and laissez
faire economics
Priority: new economic theory
Re: Denning , etc
Independent viewpoint.
-----
Strongly in favor of major changes in
African-American culture.
We don't need affirmative action, we need a new
paradigm for black
achievement though education, job opportunity,
and new values. This
does mean strong criticism of Rap so-called music
but simultaneously
strong advocacy of Jazz as a unique American
musical art form.
Independent viewpoint with some
conservative inspiration.
Strongly in favor of Free Speech.
This means strong criticism of the mass media
and its regime of blatant bias in favor of the
agenda of the political Left. This also
means willingness to consider ideas from the entire
political spectrum except
authoritarian systems, especially Nazism /
Fascism and Communism. This means
strong sentiments in favor of Israeli success,
and strong opposition to anti-Semitism.
We are singularly unimpressed with most forms of
Anarchism while recognizing
that the systems advocated by Tolstoy and
Kropotkin are in a different category.
Independent - Libertarian
inspired.
