My opinion about the 2020 situation put together in a book.
While my work is mostly fictional stories, it might come as a surprise that I am very intrigued by politics and controversial topics. 2020 was a hell of a year and I felt too powerfully opi...
Moderates. They aren't alt-right or alt-left. They are, as the name suggests, the moderation. And in this ever-expanding gap between left and right, you'd think that the best thing for polarization is a moderate candidate, but is that realistic? Can Moderates win? Well, no. In this chapter, I want to explore what a
moderate exactly is, and why one can't get in the White House. Surprisingly, more than a third of Americans identify as neither left nor right, so centrist America is alive and well. Moderates represent a 44% plurality of Hispanic and non-white voters and a 42% plurality of the Millennial generation. A lot of people have the misconception that Moderates are just uninformed voters that can't decide because of their lack of data, but moderates might be the smartest of us all. They analyze both left and right, find the strengths and the weaknesses in both parties, and decide that they want perspective. As shown in the graph below, only 38% of Democrats identify as liberals. 40% of moderates identify with the Democrats, while 21% identify themselves as Republicans.
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Moderates tend to see both sides of the issue: 84% want stricter gun laws. 3⁄4 want to expand the use of coal, oil, and other fossil fuels. 86% don't view immigrants and immigrant families as bad people. Moderates simply want to see agreement and compromise between left and right.
Moderates often don't win because people feel they have low electability. They don't seem like they can win. People also view Moderates as inconsistent. "They can't make up their mind", people say, which is not true. Moderation isn't not making up your mind, moderation is having a bit of both perspective. Going back to polarization. Tribalism is one reason why Moderates don't win. You are either left, Or you are right. If you don't conform to that way of thinking then you are an outcast to both parties.
The left only trusts the left, the right only trusts the right, and this segregation is the reason Moderates are excluded from major political parties. One source even called them 'politically homeless', which I find is a great analogy. I feel Donald Trump has contributed to polarization greatly. He is an arrogant man who refuses to cooperate, which is the goal Moderates want to accomplish, so Moderates are even more excluded. Bruce Bond, cofounder of the Common Ground Committee says, "The problem has been that the folks on the extremes, they're the most vocal and they're where the money tends to show up,". "I think Donald Trump represented a triumph of centrism," says GOP consultant Brad Todd. "A lot of analysts never thought you could run on a platform that was socially conservative and fiscally moderate." And he's right. Donald Trump never condemned white supremacists. He never supported BLM. He didn't condemn conversion camps, and he never supported LBGTQ+ rights. He knew that if you pick sides, the
opposition will hate you. So when he says there are good people on both sides, he's running as a centrist and governing as a partisan. People know that centrists are popular, which is why they run as one, but as soon as they win the popular vote, they add to that gap in polarization. The Democratic Party is moving further to the left, and when they say radical ideas, they are supported. When Moderates say they don't completely agree with those ideas, they are seen as not progressive enough. That's the issue, 'not enough'. Not progressive enough, not conservative enough. Moderates also struggle with a certain identity crisis. When you hear someone is Republican, you immediately classify them as extreme left. When you hear someone is a Democrat, you immediately assume they are socialist. When you hear someone is a Moderate, your mind has nowhere to go. There is no major party that openly supports moderates.
I think Moderates want to see us come together and not drift apart. They want us to go forward, not left and right. But polarization is far beyond the point of no return, and I don't think that they can win the white house.
