An Introduction to Radical Enlightened Centrism

Nobody loves providing an overview of my political orientation more than I do.

Western civilization is in the midst of a war of ideas. A vast array of different ideological factions, like “the MAGA movement” or “the Woke Left”, are competing for influence over the hearts and minds of as many people as possible.

This war of ideas is a meme war in the technical sense. Just as there are thousands of different genetic viruses seeking to replicate themselves across the hardware of human bodies, there are an endless number of memetic viruses (called ideas) seeking to replicate themselves across the software layer of the human mind.

I have two roles in this conflict. One is as an observer - a scholar of sorts - whose goal is to identify and make explicit the rules of the Great Meme Wars.

The emergent rules of kinetic warfare have already been made explicit by such figures as Sun Tzu and Napoleon, as well as everyone who’s played enough map-based strategy games like Age of Empires, Civilization, or any of the Total War games.

Do not stretch your supply lines too thin. Always seize the high ground. And never invade Russia in the Winter.

By the same token, there are emergent rules governing memetic warfare that, if understood and exploited, can provide a decisive advantage to those seeking to predict or even influence the outcome of the Great Meme Wars.

I call this inquiry into the dynamics of ideological warfare the field of applied sociology.

But my other role in the Great Meme Wars is as a participant myself. I worry about the future. I really do. It is not clear to me how our civilization will survive the onslaught of technological, environmental, and sociological threats we face.

The only thing I do know is that if we want any chance of enacting the cultural and political reforms that are necessary for our survival, we must learn how to transcend political polarization, at least to a far greater degree than we do now.

It is for this reason I have pledged my allegiance to the glorious meme known as Radical Enlightened Centrism. Also known by it’s abridged monikers “Radical Centrism” or “Enlightened Centrism,” it is the meme I seek to spread across the minds of all those unfortunate enough to come into contact with my ideas.

What is Radical Enlightened Centrism?

Radical Enlightened Centrism is first and foremost and orientation - an approach to politics - rather than a set of policy prescriptions.

In short, Radical Enlightened Centrism is the belief that the correct perspective on any issue is arrived at by synthesizing both Left-wing and Right-wing considerations.

As a matter of definition, we can say that the (reasonable) Left’s primary consideration is the degree to which societies need to be able to address real issues like inequality and injustice, while the (reasonable) Right’s primary consideration is the degree to which existing social structures must be maintained so civilization doesn’t collapse into chaos.

It is obvious that you need both perspectives in order to have a society that is both stable enough to avoid collapse, while remaining dynamic enough to be able to adapt to the ever changing social, technological, and environmental landscape.

If we think about the ideals that each political faction values most, we could say that the Left’s highest value is progress, the Right’s highest value is stability, and the Radical Enlightened Centrist’s highest value is the balance between the two.

Now, the reason I call it Radical Enlightened Centrism is because A) it’s mildly provocative and sparks people’s curiosity and B) it’s definitely not regular centrism.

The only people worse than the Freaks on the far-Left or far-Right are the moderate kleptocratic apparatchiks who are in the pockets of the military industrial complex, the pharmaceutical industrial complex, and all the various corrupt special interests that have caused, or at the very least failed to address, the many problems we face.

Radical Centrism is not the dogmatic pursuit of being in the middle on every issue. If there is an imbalance in the culture, bringing it back into balance often means throwing your weight behind the side that has been politically marginalized.

If an extremist Christian Theocracy took over the United States and wanted to execute gay people, and the opposition believed they should be allowed to be gay, the stereotypical Centrist position would be something like “let’s just make it illegal to be gay, but not execute them.”

In contrast, the Enlightened Centrist position would be to take the side of the opposition, who correctly believe that the criminalization of homosexuality is a bad idea.

And if it were the reverse scenario, where an ultra-progressive government arrested people for refusing to allow their 13-year old child to undergo gender reassignment surgery, then the Radical Centrist would stand firmly with the Right-wingers who might oppose such a policy.

A good metaphor is that of a car travelling down a winding road. The car is society, and in order for society to not crash and burn, it must avoid falling off either side of the road. The best place for the car to be is as close to the middle of the road as possible.

But the middle of the road is not a fixed position - it moves dynamically as the road winds and turns, reflecting the degree to which new technologies and social movements force the car to keep moving forward.

Prior to the invention of birth control, contraceptives, and treatments for STDs, it was entirely appropriate to dogmatically enforce sexual taboos at the cost of repressing individual freedom.

But since the invention of sexual health technologies, it makes sense to loosen the degree to which we punish things like pre-marital sex (although I would say we have definitely gone too far in the sexual liberation direction).

The time is now

Unless you are ideologically possessed beyond any hope, you will at least be able to understand the reasons why a meme like Radical Enlightened Centrism might be a useful addition to one’s memetic toolbelt.

There is strong evidence to suggest that political orientation is hardwired as part of your innate personality characteristics, such as your openness to experience or your levels of neuroticism and extraversion.

So if you are temperamentally conservative, do not deny your nature. The same goes for those of you who are temperamentally progressive.

Just as a good football team has a mix of player-types ranging from quick and nimble wide receivers to powerful and lumbering offensive linemen, any good political coalition will have a diverse mix of Left and Right leaning orientations.

Recognize that those of a different personality type are not your opposites, but your compliments. Only then can you work together to pushback against ideological extremism wherever it manifests.