Enlightened Centrism
The phrase "enlightened centrism" is a left-wing slur. Its usual presentation is to mock people who claim to be "centrists", by pretending that they are incapable of telling the difference between some evil right-wing atrocity and some noble left-wing cause [1]. The joke is that centrists believe themselves to be sooo enlightened by not muddying themselves in the nasty political realities of the right-and-left, and are in fact merely idiots for not seeing that the left is right and the right is wrong. Unfortunately, there's a bit of truth to the slur: centrists aren't mocked for being 'enlightened' for nothing.
[1]Example:
I've deliberately started self-identifying as an enlightened centrist. I've been a centrist for a while, but I figured I might as well own the title. Besides, owning such a thing may inspire me to fulfill it, and there's nothing wrlong with trying to do your very best.
The purpose of this essay is to introduce the portion of Transcendental Metaphysics devoted to politics. Politics is, of course, a giant lightning rod, and it tends to bring out the absolute worst in everyone. It is for precisely this reason that I deliberately approach the topic through the lens of enlightened centrism. The fact that it's mocked for being detached from morality is a good sign that we may be able to discuss politics impartially from its position.
But what is this centrism, and what makes it enlightened? Like any political term, its definition is decidedly vague, and the way I use it may not perfectly agree with how other people use it. Over the next handful of essays →, I will elaborate a series of models relating the left and right, and situating the center in relation to them. Throughout the rest of the politics essays →, I will rely on these various perspectives to (hopefully) illuminating effect.