“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” 

Guest Post by Centrist McModerate

These are tumultuous times in our two-party system. The side currently in charge is engaged in a nakedly authoritarian power grab that seeks to bend society to its will. Meanwhile, the side out of power proposes that the side in power stop doing this.

Fundamentally, this is the overarching issue in our politics today. And while the two sides bicker in their usual petty, partisan ways, I, a political moderate, a centrist par excellence, am here to render my dispassionate and unbiased view from nowhere on the subject. Rather than be guided by personal politics, I must identify where the two parties stand, and from this, divine the middle ground where I am to commence digging my position.

If only more pundits took my approach to politics, we could have something resembling a reasonable public discourse. Alas, it is not so. We are instead cursed by ideology and condemned to banishment from the Eden of bipartisanship.

Some have alleged that the side in power is engaged in fascism. This seems true enough, but far be it from me to pass judgment. Were I to do that, I would be showing bias, which again, I do not have. On the other hand, the other side believes that fascism is bad. Here, too, I decline to opine on whatever merit this position may have, or lack.

Having ascertained the state of play in our politics, it is time to stake out the reasonable position, that elusive middle that we have failed to find too many times in our history. Indeed, one thinks of how the Civil War might have been avoided if only cooler and more moderate heads had prevailed. Sadly, the politicians from that era learned nothing from the Framers of the Constitution, who found that happy ideological medium when they allowed slavery to continue, but with the possibility that the slave trade could be restricted no sooner than 20 years after the document’s ratification. Indeed, the Framers do not get nearly enough credit for achieving moderation by such half measures, or rather, three-fifths measures.

The solution to our present ills is thankfully a relatively straightforward one. Distilled to its simplest form, the debate comes down to, “Fascism or Not Fascism?” At this point, dear reader, I should not even have to identify the antidote to what ails our politics. But at the risk of insulting your intelligence, I will lay it bare. The moderate proposal is to reject the strident nature with which both sides present their positions, while nonetheless combining elements of each position in a moderate way.

Therefore, the remedy we now seek clearly involves some form of fascism. In this moment, political moderation, or centrism, if you prefer, requires us to resist attempts at full fascism, while also equally opposing efforts that would reject any fascism.

In short, it is a moderate proposal to do quasi-fascism.

By the very off chance you are unimpressed by the reasoning that guided me to this conclusion, know this: the solution will make neither side happy. Each will be dissatisfied with the moderate and unbiased solution arrived at herein. As such, I can think of no better endorsement of this most sensible position. Political moderation thus remains unbiased and as logically sound as ever.