Centrism: Why I’m Neither Left Nor Right Wing

QuestionMan

What is centrism?


Centrism is taking the best of both left and right wing ideologies and using them to form your own opinion. Usually centrists use the Hegelian dialectic (developed by Fichte) which is when you take two opposing sides (thesis and anti-thesis) and by merging their common truths form a new opinion (synthesis).


Centrism: Why I’m neither left nor right wing.


Here’s a good example:



The authority of parents goes unchallenged in the early stages of a child's life. This complete obedience is our 'thesis'. As the child develops through adolescence, we typically see a phase of rebellion as the child develops into an adult. The child must assert his/her own character and he/she does this through rebelling against authority. Rebellion is our 'anti-thesis'. As the teenager matures into an adult, his/her attitude towards authority in general, and his/her parents in particular, moderates - in achieving independence he/she no longer needs to rebel. Independence is our 'synthesis'.



In my case I started of conservative, became a socialist and now I’m a quasi-libertarian centrist.


In our current political system there are only right wing parties or left wing parties. Two extremes that I believe are hurting our democracy. On the right you have laissez faire capitalists that expect the market to fix itself and on the left you have excessive regulation and government spending which only contributes to more debt.


Right wingers are the type that would throw a kid into the deep end of a pool to see if he/she sinks or swims. Left wingers on the other hand would keep everyone in the shallow area of the pool and close off the deep end.


Both systems are inherently flawed.


That’s why we need a mixed economy. The Free market allows for businesses to thrive, and people have the freedom to their own property. State intervention will enforce competition (through anti-trust laws) and ensure that harmful business practices are not carried out.


In the pool example, it would mean that people would be able to get lessons before going into the deep end and that a life guard would be present at all times.


Currently in Canada a left wing government has been elected. Their campaign promise was to have deficits for 3 years and then magically on the 4th year balance the budget. I opposed the massive deficit spending they proposed, and recently my fears were confirmed when a national bank study confirmed that after 4 years the Liberal government will amount $90 billion in deficits and not $30 billion as they promised.


This is why I am more fiscally conservative. I see government spending as something that should be kept at a minimum since the government tends to be really bad at spending money. That is why there needs to be a decrease in regulations for oil and other natural resource production which are the main contributors to Canada’s economy. That way with the tax revenue earned from these industries the government can use it to incentives companies to go green as well as giving tax breaks to the middle class. This is something the Conservative government was doing while in power.


Now you’re probably thinking QMan you sound like a conservative right about now.


Perhaps I do but there are some big issues I disagree with conservatives on. Although I am against calling homosexual unions a marriage since I am pro-family:




I oppose the LGBT propaganda:




I oppose the niqab and think it should be illegal to wear one, I’m pro-gun rights, I’m against universal healthcare (it’s too inefficient) and I am pro-Israel there are a lot of things I don’t agree with conservatives on.


For one I’m pro-choice, the way I see it is if you don’t want an abortion don’t get one, you shouldn’t have the right to impose your beliefs on other people. I believe education is a right and should be provided tuition free since it will produce smarter citizens but it must first be reformed greatly. I support the Iran deal and think we should impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia since they are funding Daesh while Iran is fighting them.


I also believe it is important to combat White supremacist movements since they are completely misguided and fuel Daesh's recruitement drive.



I’m very open minded when it comes to sex and relationships, so much so that I want to be in a relationship with two bisexual girls.


I support the legalization of prostitution and I’m pro-marijuana legalization.




Don’t get me wrong I absolutely detest marijuana; it makes people stupider, leads to addiction in some and can even cause bronchitis. There are three reasons why I support legalization:


1. “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” This quote is by Ronald Reagan (I know ironic) and I think it applies perfectly. By legalizing marijuana it gets it out of the hands of the cartels allowing for regulation (setting a legal age when people can smoke preferably at 21), ends the wasted money on the War on Drugs and adds money to the economy.


2. If we can establish the same negative stigma against marijuana as we have against tobacco then everyone will realize that only losers use it excessively.


3. It’s a victimless crime


As some of you may know I’m also an atheist. No not one of those crazy ones that call religious people mentally ill and spends their whole life being an asshole to everyone. Those are called anti-theists. I’m actually pro-religion, I think it has been a positive influence on society by getting people together and helping one another; I just don’t agree with everything it teaches like not eating certain food and praying to a being that most likely does not exist.


I find voting extremely difficult since no side truly represents me.


Here is where I lie on the political spectrum.


Centrism: Why I’m Neither Left Nor Right Wing


GPC - Green Party of Canada


NDP - New Democratic Party of Canada


LPC - Liberal Party of Canada


CPC - Conservative Party of Canada


Here's where I lie on the US political spectrum


Centrism: Why I’m Neither Left Nor Right Wing


That is why in the last election I voted for a socialist named Mulcair (NDP) since I didn’t want the Liberal government led by Trudeau (the current prime minister) to come to power and the Conservatives led by Harper were in power for too long (10 years, I know that’s scary that in Canada we don’t have term limits) and was going to lose since there was a nationwide movement against him. Heck even John Oliver joined in.



Take what he said about Harper with a grain of salt. Harper may have cut environmental protection but he improved the economy greatly leaving Canada with a surplus. Harper also was a great ally to Israel and was the first world leader to recognize Ukraine's new government. He actually went up to Putin and told him to get out of Ukraine.




There aren’t that many centrists out there sadly since people tend to gravitate to one side of the spectrum and there isn’t much unity. The reason for lack of unity is that what I may consider a valid right or left wing view point may be dismissed by someone else or vice versa.


So there you have it. The next time you see me criticizing left wingers please don’t call me a religious conservative. If you see me criticizing a conservative it doesn’t automatically make me a liberal.

Centrism: Why I’m Neither Left Nor Right Wing
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