Centrism Debate
American Centrism Has Failed
Editor’s note: this essay is part of an ongoing series hosted by Quillette debating the merits and spirit of centrism. If you would like to contribute or respond to this essay or others in the series, please send a submission to pitch@quillette.com. The American political centre,
The Spirit of Centrism
“The far-right and far-left can be equally insane.” ~John P. Avlon Centrism is a decidedly wimpy word, but it is a powerful political idea. Over the last few weeks, many commentators and critics have compelled me to contemplate centrism more carefully. Is centrism a kind of “average” of extremes: They
Universalism Not Centrism
The notion of “centrism” aims to stake out ideological ground between the extremes of contemporary left and right. But the centrism-extremism distinction fails to get at essential differences. Finding those means going deeper into Western intellectual history. Ideologies are like organisms, and tracing their origins back to common ancestors starts
Centrism: A Moderate Manifesto
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; ~W. B. Yeats Centrism. It’s a decidedly wimpy and unexciting word and it often inspires derision as a kind of pallid purgatory for those afraid to take bold action
