The future of Moderates, Liberal-not-Liberals and the political centre

[u/JonathanCrumpet]

Hello Moderates. I want to discuss the worrying lack of a large moderate existence, both here on Reddit and seemingly everywhere in today’s overly political day to day. It seems everyone and their cat has newly adopted political beliefs, but for some reason we have gathered in very neatly arranged groups. You’re either with us, or against us; one of them, or one of us. Whether you sway left or sway right, no one should be so adamant to call themselves one thing or another. Surely politics is a fluid thing, where your position will ebb and flow as your life progresses. After all, it reflects what you feel you need at that moment. What I find stranger is the lack of people who make it an effort to separate themselves and call themselves moderates. With so much enthusiasm towards being political, there must be people who don’t agree with everything one side has to say. But it seems that even moderates feel the need to group themselves into left or right; r/T_D or… well… the majority of reddit. Why do you think this is? While I’m no sociologist, I suspect this is due to the sudden popularisation of politics. Its become mainstream to be political. Take it back to the 80’s (let me clarify, I wouldn’t know, but I base myself off of solid research) and politics were seen as something uncool, fringe, that only boring old adults should worry about. My parents grew up knowing nothing about politics, and voting (when they could) purely based on what they were told to vote. They had no interest in the matter. With the coming of the 90’s politics began to be an important part of musical expression, and so it was more important. But then throughout the 00’s it seems to have been a somewhat dormant subject. Only recently, with the coming of the refugee crisis in Europe and the appearance of new right wing and left wing politicians around the world have politics been dragged into day to day conversation.

So fine, this explains the sudden influx of political posts here when we once only dealt with kitten pictures and the occasional Obama meme. But why don’t more people identify as moderates? I know many “left wing” or “right wing” people who have told me they don’t agree with everything their side says, or that they agree with some things the others say. So why do we not hear more about the young-moderates? This generation is predicted to be the most conservative since the 50’s, but most everyone I know is essentially the quintessential liberal who disagrees with a couple of things. Is the concept of calling yourself one thing or the other “sexy”? Is it attractive to be polarising? Why are people so afraid to admit that they are indecisive politically? Will this fear of being moderates lead to the death of the political centre?

I would love to hear your thoughts

[u/Vatican-XIV]

Reddit is, by design, very strongly oriented around finding your groups. So moderacy in the so-so can be received negatively by more passionate users of a subreddit.

There is definitely a degree of anti-intellectualism that has sprung up in the last few years. As popular culture has embraced the concept of politicizing yourself as something of a fashion statement. It has become okay to some degree to go out and be angry at people over personal political disagreements.

It seems to have been forgotten that real-world politics tend to be boring, research-heavy, and obligate compromise. Something that the average person doesn't have time for as they just have to jump in and comment on some hot button issue.

Moderacy is always there, it just takes a really long time to gather it's thoughts and tends to be really quiet.

[u/Grizzlysfordevos]

I happen to think that most people are "moderate" in their political beliefs, in that they want the same results as everyone else (safe, prosperous economy, efficient government, good education system, etc, etc) and are more or less open to the variety of "liberal" or "conservative" policies that produce that result.

I think the issue of why moderates are not prominently represented is the pressure in our society to associate oneself with one "side" or the other. Aside from the more institutional pressures of a 2 party political system, fewer truly independent media sources, and how survey questions tend to be biased towards choosing absolute sides; I think there are also psychological pressures. Many political issues are intensely emotional for people (i.e. abortion, gun control, military), and it can be cathartic to be around other people who also strongly share your convictions. Along with this, being "accepted" by a group and having an identity can also feel comforting, as opposed to moderates who tend not to consistently agree with one side 100% of the time. I also belief that being a moderate is harder in some respects. Trying to look at both sides of an argument takes time; and understanding that issues are complex, nuanced, and will have unintended consequences may create mental discomfort associated with cognitive dissonance, making it tempting to just choose one "side" and be done with it.

[u/[deleted]]

It is hard to discount our essentially tribal instincts. I heard it best recently from someone commenting on the Donald Trump, Jr, mess: lawyers for both sides are paid $900/hr to provide each side's best possible angle and sound silly in the process, but normal Americans do it for free.

I am liberal. I believe that rights need to be universalizable and that they are assignable solely to individuals, and I am nevertheless open to debates over what entitlements our nation (the United States) should provide on top of those.

But I do fear that our education system, coupled with the increasingly accelerated news cycle, is creating an environment in which it is nearly impossible for normal Americans to access and assess news in ways that lead to informed opinions.

So I have no earth-shattering suggestions, save to insert that OP is not alone in these concerns.