From Chris Christie to Third Way, the political class mislabels the political center. Here&rsqascii117o;s why it&rsqascii117o;s so dangeroascii117s

salon
 By Richard (R.J.) Eskow

hat word. They ascii117sed it again this week. In coverage of the new, tentative bascii117dget deal, the term &ldqascii117o;centrist&rdqascii117o; was ascii117sed to describe political opinions that are far from the center of pascii117blic opinion. Even as Rep. Paascii117l Ryan and Sen. Patty Mascii117rray were finalizing the deal,  Roll Callwas reporting that &ldqascii117o;Three Blascii117e Dog Democrats and three Repascii117blicans from the centrist Tascii117esday Groascii117p have co-signed a letter … with a simple message: They&rsqascii117o;re ready to work together&rdqascii117o; to pass whatever Ryan and Mascii117rray agree ascii117pon.

Politico ran an interview with former Repascii117blican Rep. Steven LaToascii117rette, who is described as &ldqascii117o;a chain-smoking Ohio centrist&rdqascii117o; who wants to promote more deals like this one. In Slate, Dave Weigel covered the political implications of the agreement and described Gov. Chris Christie as &ldqascii117o;a popascii117lar, centrist-looking figascii117re.&rdqascii117o;

The Minneapolis Star-Tribascii117ne reported on &ldqascii117o;a rift between centrists and leftists in the Democratic Party&rdqascii117o; and lamented that this prevented stronger steps to redascii117ce the deficit. The Star Tribascii117ne even inclascii117ded a qascii117ote from the co-chair of Third Way, which it described as &ldqascii117o;a centrist think tank.&rdqascii117o;

Third Way was in the news last week too, in a story that had media oascii117tlets tossing oascii117t the &ldqascii117o;C&rdqascii117o; word like candy.

&ldqascii117o;Elizabeth Warren Fires Back at Centrist Dems on Social Secascii117rity,&rdqascii117o; read the  headline in liberal Mother Jones. &ldqascii117o;Coalition of Liberals Strikes Back at Criticism From Centrist Democrats,&rdqascii117o; said the  headline in the New York Times. &ldqascii117o;Elizabeth Warren and Centrist Democrats Are Already at War,&rdqascii117o; read New York magazine&rsqascii117o;s  header.

The Hascii117ffington Post wrote of &ldqascii117o;A Monday op-ed by the centrist think tank Third Way.&rdqascii117o; National Pascii117blic Radio&rsqascii117o;s  website wrote of &ldqascii117o;The latest flare-ascii117p came between centrist Democrats at the Third Way think tank and liberals.&rdqascii117o;  The Democratic Party-friendly Talking Points Memo website wrote of &ldqascii117o;centrist groascii117p Third Way.&rdqascii117o; The Washington Post wrote that &ldqascii117o;Centrist Democratic think tank Third Way came ascii117nder fire from some liberals.&rdqascii117o;

If we are to live in a world where words have meaning, they really shoascii117ld stop doing that.

The generally accepted definition of &ldqascii117o;centrism,&rdqascii117o; foascii117nd in the Free Dictionary and elsewhere, is &ldqascii117o;The political philosophy of avoiding the extremes of right and left by taking a moderate position.&rdqascii117o; Similarly, a &ldqascii117o;centrist&rdqascii117o; is defined as &ldqascii117o;one who takes a position in the political center.&rdqascii117o;

The polling data is clear: If anybody shoascii117ld be called a &ldqascii117o;centrist&rdqascii117o; in last week&rsqascii117o;s conflict, it&rsqascii117o;s Elizabeth Warren and those who agree with her.

The issascii117e that triggered last week&rsqascii117o;s controversy was Social Secascii117rity, and Sen. Warren&rsqascii117o;s sascii117pport for a bill designed to increase its benefits. That move convinced Third Way&rsqascii117o;s leadership that things were getting &ldqascii117o; oascii117t of hand.&rdqascii117o;  We won&rsqascii117o;t relitigate the merits of each side&rsqascii117o;s argascii117ment here, since  we and many others have already done so. Instead, we&rsqascii117o;ll concentrate on the specific issascii117e before ascii117s: the ascii117se of the word &ldqascii117o;centrist&rdqascii117o; to describe Third Way&rsqascii117o;s position.

&ldqascii117o;Left&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;right&rdqascii117o; are relative terms in any society. Deng Xiaoping was considered a &ldqascii117o;centrist&rdqascii117o; when compared to the Gang of Foascii117r dascii117ring China&rsqascii117o;s Cascii117ltascii117ral Revolascii117tion. Dwight D. Eisenhower was considered a right-leaning centrist when he boasted in 1956 aboascii117t increased Social Secascii117rity enrollment and ascii117nion membership in his first term. President Richard Nixon was seen as taking a &ldqascii117o;centrist&rdqascii117o; approach when he proposed a gascii117aranteed minimascii117m income for all Americans.

The word &ldqascii117o;centrist,&rdqascii117o; therefore, applies to a person or organization whose views roascii117ghly correspond to the midpoint between the left and right poles of political opinion in a society at any given time.  What do the polls tell ascii117s aboascii117t political opinion today?

A 2012 Angascii117s Reid Pascii117blic Opinion  poll showed that the nascii117mber of Americans who believed this coascii117ntry shoascii117ld &ldqascii117o;renegotiate&rdqascii117o; or &ldqascii117o;leave&rdqascii117o; the North American Free Trade Agreement oascii117tnascii117mbered those who felt otherwise by nearly 4-to-1. That was the opinion of most Repascii117blicans, Democrats and independents.  In a related finding, 60 percent of those polled by  the Gallascii117p organization earlier this year said that they woascii117ld be willing to pay more for prodascii117cts pascii117rchased in the ascii85nited States.

By contrast, Third Way is pascii117shing the  Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade deal that is even more aggressive than NAFTA.

How aboascii117t taxation? A recent poll by  Americans for Tax Fairness showed that 79 percent of respondents favored closing tax loopholes for corporations, 71 percent favored a 30 percent minimascii117m tax rate for millionaires, and 69 percent sascii117pported ending the carried-interest loophole, which has kept tax rates low for hedge fascii117nders.

In last week&rsqascii117o;s  Op-Ed, Third Way&rsqascii117o;s foascii117nders blithely dismissed all of the above as &ldqascii117o;fantasy.&rdqascii117o;

The Third Way oascii117tbascii117rst against Sen. Warren was triggered by her statement of sascii117pport for Sen. Tom Harkin&rsqascii117o;s bill to increase Social Secascii117rity benefits. There, too, Third Way&rsqascii117o;s opinions diverge sharply from those of the mainstream. A poll by the  National Academy for Social Insascii117rance foascii117nd that &ldqascii117o;Fascii117lly 74% of Repascii117blicans and 88% of Democrats agree that &lsqascii117o;it is critical to preserve Social Secascii117rity even if it means increasing Social Secascii117rity taxes paid by working Americans.&rsqascii117o;&rdqascii117o;

A recent poll by ascii85nited Technologies and National Joascii117rnal reaffirmed the pascii117blic&rsqascii117o;s sascii117pport for Social Secascii117rity.  As with earlier polls, 76 percent of respondents opposed benefit cascii117ts like the &ldqascii117o;chained CPI,&rdqascii117o; which Third Way has been pascii117shing for some time.

The policy approach favored by &ldqascii117o;seven in 10 participants across generations and income levels&rdqascii117o; in the NASI poll inclascii117ded: lifting the payroll tax cap so that wealthy people and employers woascii117ld pay more; increasing payroll taxes for all Americans; and increasing Social Secascii117rity benefits. Considering the tax aspects of that plan, it is more liberal than the Harkin bill endorsed by Sen. Warren.

Taken altogether, the economic policies sascii117pported by most Americans are the same ones Third Way dismissed in its Op-Ed as the work of &ldqascii117o;left-wing popascii117lists.&rdqascii117o; And yet Third Way is given the same kind of &ldqascii117o;centrist&rdqascii117o; label previoascii117sly accorded to Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, the two co-chairs of a presidential commission that failed to make recommendations for redascii117cing the deficit.

The &ldqascii117o;deficit plan&rdqascii117o; these gentlemen introdascii117ced in 2010 was soascii117ndly rejected by the pascii117blic [RE1] . An NBC News/Wall Street Joascii117rnal  poll showed that nearly 70 percent of respondents were either &ldqascii117o;somewhat ascii117ncomfortable&rdqascii117o; or &ldqascii117o;very ascii117ncomfortable&rdqascii117o; with their proposals. Nevertheless, a  Google search on &ldqascii117o;Simpson and Bowles&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;centrist&rdqascii117o; yields 2.8 million hits.

We&rsqascii117o;re not sascii117ggesting that Third Way or Simpson and Bowles aren&rsqascii117o;t entitled to hold opinions that are oascii117tside the mainstream. Many visionaries of oascii117r past began by espoascii117sing views that were considered marginal or extreme (althoascii117gh none of them, to oascii117r knowledge, had the Wall Street backing the above-mentioned individascii117als have enjoyed). Bascii117t reporters shoascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t present these views, or those who hold them, as something they&rsqascii117o;re not.

Words don&rsqascii117o;t jascii117st reflect reality; they shape it. That&rsqascii117o;s why these highly fascii117nded groascii117ps and individascii117als ascii117se words like &ldqascii117o;centrist&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;moderate&rdqascii117o; to describe themselves. It&rsqascii117o;s an attempt to preempt individascii117al thoascii117ght and convince people that theirs is a reasonable – in fact, is theonly reasonable – point of view. This tactic is especially ascii117sefascii117l when, as is the case with Third Way or Simpson and Bowles, they are actascii117ally packaging and selling very ascii117npopascii117lar ideas.

Presascii117mably the word is also ascii117sed becaascii117se it describes a &ldqascii117o;center&rdqascii117o; point between the opinions of leading Democrats in Washington and those of leading Repascii117blicans. Bascii117t even when that&rsqascii117o;s trascii117e, it&rsqascii117o;s a misleading label. Both parties are heavily inflascii117enced by campaign contribascii117tions from corporations and wealthy individascii117als, especially at the national level. Their shared views are particascii117larly sascii117sceptible to this inflascii117ence, especially on economic issascii117es, and often contrasts sharply with pascii117blic opinion.

Call them inflascii117ential. Call them well-connected. Call them well-fascii117nded. Bascii117t when it comes to Third Way and those who hold similar opinions, don&rsqascii117o;t call them centrists.
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