Centrism and Nice Guy Syndrome : My Problem with ‘Moderate’

This morning Lib Dem Leader Vince Cable announced a series of proposals to help rejuvenate the Liberal Democrats and seize the centre ground. These include proposals to set up a registered supporters scheme and allowing non-MPs to stand for the leadership. The specifics of the plans have already been scrutinised and debated to hell and back all over social media, so I will waste no time discussing the merits or lack thereof beyond a cautious support for the ideas. Although I have many questions about how these ideas would work, my frustration wasn’t with the strategy. My problem, if you hadn’t already guessed from my bio and headline, was the talk of a ‘momentum for moderates.’
I hate using the term ‘moderate’ in politics.
I hate it even more when talking about the Lib Dems.
Firstly, it is an incredibly broad category, featuring individuals from a variety of different parties and ideologies. Vince Cable, Anna Soubry, Tony Blair and the late John McCain have all recently been described as ‘moderates’ despite representing a broad spectrum of ideologies and political beliefs. After all, despite apparently being both ‘centrists,’ it was the Lib Dems who provided some of the strongest and most effective opposition to the excesses of the Blair and Brown governments. This is a problem for two reasons. From an ideological perspective, it completely waters down any commitment to Liberal values and beliefs making it far more difficult to express what we as Liberals stand for to the public or even to ourselves. From a strategic perspective this is also problematic as it lumps together vastly different politicians as ‘all the same’ playing directly into the out of touch narrative used by both the left and even more worryingly the far right. It also associates us with Tony Blair which is the least helpful thing that can happen to anyone in politics these days.
The second problem with terms like ‘moderate’ and ‘centrist’ is that you are defining yourself not by what you are, but by what you are not. Instead of proudly standing up for a clear moral viewpoint, you are saying ‘We’re a bit like Labour/The Tories, just less.’ At any time in politics this is not exactly a great pitch to the electorate. But when the voters are most craving authenticity and politicians with clear policies and ideology, this is simply moronic.
My biggest problem however when we describe ourselves as ‘moderate’ or ‘sensible’ is how it allows us to pat ourselves on the back and ignore any problems, both in the party and in the wider world. I say this as someone who is a supporter of the coalition, and a capitalist and a globalist, but we cannot be the party of the status quo. Liberalism has never been about maintaining the world as it is, that is by definition Conservatism. Liberalism should always be a movement for change and reform to help empower and free the individual as described in the Lib Dem Constitution.
My greatest fear is that Liberals and Centrists in general become the ‘Incels of Politics,’ constantly saying how moderate and sensible we are, and complaining when the voters choose other more extreme parties without doing anything to make ourselves appealing, with no understanding of what is putting off the electorate. Nice is not enough.You don’t win sitting around saying ‘nice guys finish last,’ you win by upping your game and being the best version of yourself. There are small-l liberal voters out there, of the social, classical and neo varieties, who could easily become a Lib Dem core vote.
I hope and pray that regardless of what happens with today’s proposals that we put Moderate on the back burner, and put Liberalism back in the drivers seat.
