Thread by @AmericasCousin

It's Not Centrism

"Centrism" is not centrist and radical corporatism is not "moderate."

"Centrist" and "moderate" are Orwellian terms used to sugarcoat and advance an embedded far-right ideology (in both parties) that is neither popular nor measured in its imbalance.

The...

...policies with the broadest support that would qualify as the American mean are leftist/populist:

Taxing Corporations
Ending Bribery/Corruption
Curtailing War
Equal Rights
Expanding Social Security
Medicare for All
Debt Relief
Legalizing Marijuana

On issue...

...after issue survey data consistently bears out the truth that policies thought of as progressive reflect the wishes of actual mainstream norm, irrespective of inaccuracies in voter self-identification.

Additionally, no government in history directing multiple wars...

...of aggression without specified purpose whose spoils are allocated strictly to private interests could ever be thought of as centrist. The terms "left" and "right" originate from the French Revolution, where supporters of the aristocracy in the national assembly sat on...

...the right while supporters of the people's revolution sat on the left. Hence the concept of left/right is rooted rather straightforwardly as one of the many v. the privileged few. Given the historic levels of inequality in the U.S. the status quo is definitively far...

...right and attempts by apologists to paint its maintenance as either "centrist" or "moderate" are misinformed, deceitful, or both.

The effect of these terms is to make current radical circumstances in the U.S. seem reasonable, acceptable, familiar and safe. This...

...makes actual mitigation proposed by candidates like Sen. Sanders and Sen. Warren seem startling and radical by comparison. The effect is iniquitous.

Hence, when encountering the terms centrist or moderate, I hear them as weapons-grade perception management.
...

... It's an effective form of far-right marketing so ubiquitous we often don't notice it. By using and further metastasizing those terms, we're essentially doing their work for them.

Since change in language happens gradually, the best options I can think of are to become...

...more conscious of the danger these terms represent, pause before repeating them, raise awareness among allies, and confront adversaries by diagnosing and identifying their insidious use more often.

I hope this thread has been useful and thank everyone for reading. Best, -B