Calm Clear Thinkers UNITE!

When my 4-Greats grandfather met John Adams in Philadelphia in 1787 he said, “I’m Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. I’m a radical centrist.” I am too. If the Founders who met back then, to create The Constitution, behaved like modern political “leaders,” and were as unwilling to cooperate and compromise as our “leaders” are today, there would be NO United States of America. The minorities at each extreme, both Left and Right, do serve to “push the envelope.” They are impatient for revolution. They do challenge the majorities to think outside the box, outside our comfort zones; but, ultimately, evolution, even fast evolution wins the day and common sense, the common good, and the commonwealth make progress into the future by way of patience, good will, and compromise.

It is simply wrong to say that “moderates” or “centrists” are, by definition, not passionate and so don’t affect current and future government policy. One can be very passionate about centrism. I am. I’m pretty Left on many issues, Right on a few, and down the center on others. Combined, I’m a “Radical Centrist.”

At Syracuse in the mid-1960s, I majored in Television/Radio. My minor was Anthropology. My main “take-away” from anthropology – while many people believe that it’s good ol’ competition that has always driven human advancement, they miss the other big “C,” cooperation. Competition absent cooperation is Lord of The Flies.

So, going forward, my hope with RadCents is to promote a few key concepts, especially Respect, true open-mindedness, Cooperation, but also ACTION. It is simply not enough to just blather on at or even with each other. We must take our ideas and campaigns TO our leaders. Write to them. Call them. And, yes, physically demonstrate in from of them, carrying signs and making noise. What I will NOT do, or allow from others on these pages – angry screaming insults. I will not get into arguments with naysayers. If you have strong opposition to anything I say, fine. I MAY answer once; but I am NOT going to go round ‘n round with my opposition. Such folks can just go launch their own blog and have their say there. THIS blog is intended to: (a) Gather together as many like-minded rational radical centrists and to then (b) discover ways to put our ideas into action.

Finally, among trite phases I dislike the most – “Respect has to be earned,” or “You have to earn my respect.” No, not so. Respect should be the default, the starting point in any human relationship or interaction. I can loose my respect for another person when their words or actions warrant such respect-withdrawal; but, the starting point IS respect!

The U.S.A. and the whole world is at one of those important pivot-points in history. Will we continue to see a rise in factionalism, nationalism, divisiveness, entitlement, oligarchy, and violent conflict? Or, will we Radical Centrists save the day?

Stay tuned!