> https://www.amazon.com/Holding-Center-Defense-Political-Trimming/dp/1412849810/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470861761&sr=1-1&keywords=9781412849814 > > <https://www.amazon.com/Holding-Center-Defense-Political-Trimming/dp/1412849810/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470861761&sr=1-1&keywords=9781412849814> > > Holding the Center: In Defense of Political Trimming > > Politicians and pundits often scorn polarization and compromise—the > intransigence of the former and the feebleness of the latter—without > suggesting an alternative way. Polarization, when opposing forces are equal > or close to equal in strength, leads to stalemate. Compromise threatens to > betray one's conviction about what is essential. Ideally, a leader must > combine conviction about what ought to be done with an open-minded awareness > of unintended consequences. > > The social sciences are or should be based, largely, on the premise that > people are historical and social beings. Holding the Center follows this > tradition, while focusing on the "trimming" aspect. In nautical terms, > trimming indicates an adjustment of one's vessel to accommodate one's > environment. In politics, it is to find common ground between extremes, not > for the sake of compromise, but because reason does not have a single > location on the political spectrum. > > The twelve chapters in this book are brought together by Goodheart’s argument > that the Whig trimming tradition is the heart and soul of politics in the > West, and that both democracy and democratic culture depend upon the trimming > tradition’s advocacy of toleration. What is needed now, he notes, is a > transformation in our political culture in which humility and the admission > of error enter the list of political virtues. Non-parliamentary democracy > with its separation of powers depends for its proper functioning on > compromise, especially in a time like ours of crisis and divided government.
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