Yair Zivan, author of the recently-published The Center Must Hold, joined me in conversation for Episode Six of The Depolarizers podcast to talk about why centrism is the “antidote” to upholding liberal democracy and fighting extremism.
Zivan’s book is a collection of essays from hitters ranging from our friends at Third Way, NY-01 candidate John Avlon, and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens.
In his essay, Daniel Lubetzky writes about how “radicals wake up in the morning thinking about changing the world and moderates wake up in the morning thinking about lunch.” As centrists committed to a better, less polarized America, we must join our more radical neighbors in executing tactics that bring about this depolarization.
More than just a Middle Ground
Zivan points out that centrists need a vision beyond just engaging in local elections; they must articulate to voters how centrists winning elections will cultivate a healthy society, and they must rally behind distinct principles, values, and the embrace of nuance in the process. It’s a provocative sentiment: rather than simply housing refugees from the far left and the far right, Zivan calls on centrists to articulate and adhere to their own values. Centrists in America commit to liberal democracy, tolerance, progress and incrementalism, and they defend their values fiercely against radicals who seek to destroy our system.
In that vein, I asked Zivan how we can depolarize America as part of our daily lives. His take was that the way to depolarize a country’s politics is to dream big and articulate a vision for what centrists want to see. Centrism is not merely standing between two extremes and splitting the difference. Centrism is standing for what’s right, regardless of which party is saying it. And most importantly, centrism can win. And if we don’t win, we can’t help anyone.
In the episode, Zivan spoke to this, noting:
Centrism avoids the trap that the left and the right fall into. There are essentially two ways to fight extremism. One is to say, “I’ll try and appease them as much as I can. I’ll go toward them to keep them happy… and eventually I’ll moderate them because they’ll see there’s a reasonable option either on the fringes of the far right or the fringes of the far left, and that never works.” That option always fails. And it fails because extremists are so committed to their cause that they will never moderate, they drag you to where they want the debate to be, they pull us further apart, and they inevitably lead to more extremism. That idea is always going to fail. The alternative is to say, “here is the set of values.”
As Zivan notes, being a a centrist does not mean simply taking the middle between two extreme points. If Republicans say the 2020 election was stolen, and Democrats say it was legitimate, centrists do not simply say "the election was half stolen.” Instead, centrists proudly defend liberal democracy, emphasizing that American elections are legitimate processes.
When the left says “expand the court and add three justices,” and right says “keep the court as it is,” we don't say "add 1.5 justices.” Instead, we defend the institution of the Supreme Court.
Centrism is about defending the institutions of liberal democracy from the radicals on the left and right who believe that in order to achieve a utopian set of dreams, we must subvert our system, create an alternative set of facts, and move away from democracy.
The Principled Center
As we discussed in my conversation with Robb Willer, many people look at centrists and see a lack of moral vision. But the reality is that centrism is a profoundly moral vision.
For Zivan, that looks like a deep commitment to liberal democracy and the institutions and principles that are its fundamental building blocks: a free press, an independent Supreme Court, and a strong civil society. He notes in the episode:
How do you defend those things, defend those institutions, even when you disagree with them? That is something that the center is uniquely positioned to do, and that’s why it’s the real antidote to the extremism that we’re seeing in so much of society.
So, what do you think? What are the values that define centrist “depolarizers?” Sound off in the comments. When I asked last time, one response was:
Moderate is believing, as the liberals that we are, that the government can and should do things to help the people, environment, but usually with a more modest incremental approach.
I love this! Far too many progressives sacrifice material progress for vulnerable populations at the altar of perfection. To me, that is deeply amoral.
Other people claim that centrism can’t make for an exciting or compelling campaign topic – that we need things like Medicare for All or the Green New Deal to inspire voters. But when we look at ads from moderate Democrats, we’re pretty darn inspired. Take this ad from Will Rollins, or these ads from Mary Peltola and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. They all have concrete policy positions that uphold the sentiment of the “politics of hope” that Zivan talks about:
Hope is an active virtue… There are plenty of examples where hope is successful as a political strategy, but beyond being helpful as a political strategy, it does something positive for society: you create a better society when you infuse people with the sense that things can get better, and you have a positive vision… To do that you have to offer a different kind of politics. When done well, hope wins, and it’s really successful.
Zivan also argues something we say often here at Welcome: the future is faction. He notes:
There is room for centrism in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party… We should be building big, strong centrist factions on both sides that can then turn to their leaders and say, “if you want to get anything done, you’re going to need our faction in the party a lot more than you’ll need the fringes of the party. And without us, you won’t be able to govern.”
Further, we found this recent deep dive into the ads of frontline Democrats by
of Slow Boring to be informative and encouraging.If moderates don’t excite the base, how do you explain the fact that the top fundraising Democrats Adam Frisch, Will Rollins, and Mary Peltola are all moderates?
Zivan reminds us that centrism is inspiring, and I’d agree.
We recommend ordering a copy of Yair’s book, The Center Must Hold: Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism.
Like what you’re hearing? Listen to the full episode on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts, and subscribe to hear new episodes of The Depolarizers every Monday. You can also support our work to depolarize American politics via our 501(c)3, The Welcome Democracy Institute.
The Depolarizers: A Strong Center