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The terms radical center or radical middle describe a third way philosophy as well as an associated political movement. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language A political movement is a Social movement working in the area of Politics. Followers of this philosophy claim to improve understanding by simultaneously affirming both sides of apparently contradictory issues, whether that be disagreement amongst left-right politics or other disagreement or dilemmas. Left-right politics or the Left-right political spectrum is a common way of classifying political positions political ideologies, or political parties A dilemma (Greek δί-λημμα "double proposition " is a Problem offering at least two solutions or possibilities of which none are practically

Contents

Philosophy

Various groups have adopted "radical center" as a term to describe a third way philosophy which includes their belief that, in affirming the core principles involved on both sides of a dilemma, the dilemma or disagreement can be rendered moot. In United States law, a matter is moot if further legal proceedings with regard to it can have no effect or events have placed it beyond the reach of the law

The terms Radical Center and Radical Middle are often used interchangeably, although the former more often refers to a political movement or current and the latter to a political philosophy. The latter use reflects an emphasis on epistemic virtue, by resolving false dilemmas -- i. The epistemic virtues as identified by virtue epistemologists, reflect their contention that belief is an ethical process and thus susceptible to the intellectual Virtue The Informal fallacy of false dilemma (also called false Dichotomy, the either-or fallacy, or bifurcation) involves a situation in e. , finding the excluded middle.

Politics

The political application of radical center philosophy is represented by a cluster of loosely related terms and movements: radical middle, radical centrist, responsive communitarian, third-way, etc. In Politics, centrism usually refers to the political ideal of promoting Moderate policies which land in the middle ground between different political extremes Communitarianism, as a group of related but distinct philosophies began in the late 20th century opposing in its opinion exalted forms of Individualism while advocating phenomena As a relatively grass-roots movement, especially in the United States, there is no definitive statement of radical middle politics. For other meanings see Grass roots (disambiguation. A grassroots movement (often referenced in the context of a Political movement The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A primary recurring theme, however, might be the idea of "sustainably improving choices. " This is reflected in the goals of various radical centrist groups, which they describe using language such as:

History of the terms

While the term radical center has been used in various ways since at least the 1970s, it first had a major influence in the 1990s due to the Reform Party and Ross Perot, who were frequently described as representing the radical middle due to their attempts to partisanize those portions of the American electorate. A referendum (plural referendums or referenda) ballot question, or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita Developing countries are countries that haven't reached Western-style standards of democratic government free market economy industrialization social programs and human rights guaranties The epistemic virtues as identified by virtue epistemologists, reflect their contention that belief is an ethical process and thus susceptible to the intellectual Virtue Objectivity is both an important and very difficult concept to pin down in philosophy Moral character or character is an evaluation of a particular individual's moral qualities A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event In biological terms a community is a group of interacting Organisms sharing an environment. Value theory encompasses a range of approaches to understanding how why and to what degree humans should or do value things whether the thing is a person idea object or anything else The ethic of reciprocity is a fundamental moral Value which " refers to the balance in an interactive system such that each party has both rights and Traditional values refer to those Beliefs Moral codes, and Mores that are passed down from generation to generation within a Culture, Subculture Common sense (or when used attributively as an Adjective, commonsense, common-sense, or commonsensical) based on a strict construction Enlibra is a Neologism (from the Latin word for Balance) created in the United States by the Western Governor's Association to describe their Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and Social movement centered on a concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment. The Reform Party of the United States of America (abbreviated Reform Party USA or RPUSA, generally known simply as the Reform Party) is a Political Henry Ross Perot (born June 27 1930 is an American businessman from Texas, who is best known for seeking the office of President of the United States in In politics a partisan is a committed member of a party In multi-party systems the term is typically understood to describe a person who supports their party's measures without an Despite a strong showing in the 1996 U.S. presidential election, today the Reform Party is not generally perceived as a major player in national politics, though they have impacted state elections -- notably with their Jesse Ventura becoming Governor of Minnesota. The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice Jesse Ventura (born July 15, 1951 as James George Janos) also known as "The Body", "The Star", and "The The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the US state of Minnesota, leading the state's Executive branch.

Today, the term radical center is most commonly associated with a movement that does not explicitly claim descent from the Reform Party or its ideas, but rather draws its inspiration from the book The Third Way by Anthony Giddens (1998) and Giddens' highly-regarded follow-up book The Third Way and Its Critics (2000). Anthony Giddens Baron Giddens (born January 18, 1938) is a British sociologist who is renowned for his Theory of structuration In the U. S. third way politics is most actively represented by the New America Foundation and its book by Ted Halstead and Michael Lind, The Radical Center (2001). The New America Foundation is a non-profit Public policy institute and Think tank located in Washington D Ted Halstead served as the founding President and CEO of the Michael Lind (born on April 23 1962 in Austin Texas is an American Journalist and Historian, currently the John C Subsequent introductions to radical centrist politics include, most notably, Matthew Miller's book The Two Percent Solution (2003) and Mark Satin's book Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now (2004). Matthew Miller (born 1962 is an American Journalist, and senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, a monthly columnist Mark Satin (born November 16, 1946) is a US Lawyer and editor of the online political periodical Radical Middle Newsletter. (Interestingly, Lind was once a conservative, Miller was once an aide in President Bill Clinton's White House, and Satin was a co-author of the U.S. Green Party's founding document from the 1980s, "Ten Key Values. William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19 1946 served as the forty-second President of the United States See also Executive Office of the President of the United States The White House, formerly known as the Executive Mansion, is the Official residence One of the Political parties in the United States, and similar in mission to many of the worldwide Green Parties, the Greens have been active as a third party One of the Political parties in the United States, and similar in mission to many of the worldwide Green Parties, the Greens have been active as a third party ") The definitive history of "Centrism" in America, and probably the best-selling radical centrist book to date, is John Avlon's Independent Nation (2004, pbk. John P Avlon (born 1973) is the author of Independent Nation How Centrists Can Change American Politics. 2005).

In 1955, Geoffrey Crowther, then editor of the UK publication The Economist, declared, "It is to the Radicals that The Economist still likes to think of itself as belonging. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Economist is an English-language weekly news and International affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd and edited in London The extreme centre is the paper's historical position. "[1]

The alternative term radical middle appears to have been spontaneously invented by several different communities around the turn of the millennium, apparently in response to frustration with both extremism and moderation. Extremism is a term used to describe the actions or ideologies of individuals or groups outside the perceived political center of a society or otherwise claimed to violate Moderation is the process of eliminating or lessening extremes An early use appears to be from Gordon Fee's kingdom theology course at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in the 1970s, which helped inspire the Vineyard Movement. Gordon Fee (born 1934 in Ashland Oregon) is a New Testament scholar who after teaching briefly at Wheaton College in Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS is an Interdenominational evangelical Christian theological seminary in the United States with The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a Christian organization of over 1500 churches worldwide He used the term "radical middle" to contrast the evangelical focus on the future kingdom of God with the Pentecostal emphasis on the present kingdom of God. Evangelicalism is a theological movement tradition and system of beliefs most closely associated with Protestant Christianity, which identifies with the Gospel Pentecostalism is a renewalist religious movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on the direct personal experience of God through the Baptism But the first known use of the term "radical middle" was by Jules Feiffer in a comic strip that appears in Hold Me!, a collection published by Random House in 1962. Jules Ralph Feiffer (born) is an American syndicated comic-strip Cartoonist and Author. Random House Inc is the world's largest English-language general trade book publisher

Positioning

Radical centrists are related to what is sometimes called the Vital Center in American politics, and similarly claim to be drawing on the best of both sides. In United States Politics, the Vital Center is a term used to describe where the Presidential nominees of the two major political parties go However, they differ significantly from traditional centrism, which prides itself on moderation and seeking political consensus amongst the parties; radical centrists, for example, can be quite radical and populist in their stated policies. In Politics, centrism usually refers to the political ideal of promoting Moderate policies which land in the middle ground between different political extremes In Politics and Religion, a moderate is an individual who holds an intermediate position between two viewpoints neither to be extreme or radical by those applying Consensus has two common meanings One is a general agreement among the members of a given group or Community, each of which exercises some discretion in A political party is a Political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within Government, usually by participating in electoral Political radicalism or simply radicalism is adherence to radical views and principles in Politics. Radical centrists also can be divisive, as opposed to the non-partisan approach of traditional centrism. In Political science, nonpartisan denotes an Election, event or organization in which the participants declare or do not formally have a Political party Radical centrists are quick to dissociate themselves from traditional moderates, whom they often contrast as the "sensible center", or deride as the "squishy center. "

Radical centrists can be found in both left-wing and right-wing political parties, and often form what might be called separatist factions and run as independents. In Politics, right-wing, the political right, and the Right are positions that uphold traditional values and/or authorities

Radical centrists assert that their principles represent the fusion of the best aspects of conservatism and liberalism, and thus interpolate at the level of philosophy rather than policy. Conservatism is a term used to describe political philosophies that favour Tradition, where tradition refers to various religious cultural or nationally defined Liberalism is a broad array of related ideas and theories of Government that consider individual Liberty to be the most important political goal They claim these ideological moorings ("radix", the 'root' behind their sociological use of the term 'radical') provide the basis for their critique of society, government and other political movements. A political movement is a Social movement working in the area of Politics.

Michael Lind, in his 1996 publication Up From Conservatism, writes that, though American radical centrism is today a minority political philosophy, it was, in fact, the dominant political philosophy within the United States from the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt through Lyndon Johnson — a philosophy that was shared both by the presidents of that era and the majority of the American people. Michael Lind (born on April 23 1962 in Austin Texas is an American Journalist and Historian, currently the John C Therefore, Lind argues, the American "radical" centrism of today is simply the adamant pursuit for a return to the once-mainstream political principle of New Deal economic progressivism coupled with a moderate cultural conservatism. The New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D This modest cultural conservatism would be exemplified on the political stage simply by the "radical centrist" politician's refusal to politicize or advocate socially-liberal issues like abortion or gay rights. However, the radical centrist politician might spurn any influence or pressure coming from the Religious Right and other socially conservative groups (i. Social conservatism is a political or moral ideology that affirms the government's role in encouraging or enforcing traditional values or behaviors in the belief that these are what e. pro-life advocates, school prayer advocates, etc. Overview See also Ethical aspects of abortion Pro-life individuals generally believe that human life should be valued either from conception or Implantation School prayer in its most common usage refers to state sanctioned Prayer by students in state Schools. )

Organizations

See also

This entry is related to, but not included in the Political ideologies series or one of its sub-series. Mark Satin (born November 16, 1946) is a US Lawyer and editor of the online political periodical Radical Middle Newsletter. British people, or Britons, are the native inhabitants of Great Britain and their descendants or citizens of the United Kingdom, of the A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion Islamic fundamentalism Arabic: usul (from usul the "fundamentals"] is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics Other related articles can be found at the Politics Portal.

References

  1. ^ About us | Help | Economist.com

External links

Philosophical

Media coverage

Media coverage of the 'radical middle' phenomena in (mostly American) politics:

Information from self-described radical middle/radical centrist sources:

Centrist Blogs

"The Shift" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the American pop band The Beach Boys.
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