Well, you’ve given it a lot of thought, but if you think increased leftward polarization is going to fix already-dysfunctional divisiveness, you haven’t been paying attention to the details. Trump didn’t win because of centrism’s shortcomings but because more than half of eligible voters, who are centrists, didn’t vote, including clueless millennials who mistakenly believe not voting or voting for third/fourth party candidates is making a political statement. The only statement it makes is “too dumb to live in a true democracy.”

Left versus right is not going to make democracy work. The majority of the electorate is moderate, with pluralistic views on a multitude of issues ranging from center-left to center-right. Democracy only functions in the center. The twenty-percent at either end of the spectrum might vote, but they don’t represent the majority. If centrism is dead, so is functional democracy.

The real issue is a lack of appreciation for democracy as the best political system we have — because too many people in this country and others have been allowed to get through school without learning about civics. governance and how democracy works. They don’t comprehend how much they wouldn’t want to live under any other system in which governance is by authoritarianism, and why not voting is very, very dumb.

Many of those under thirty are not voting, and that is a huge problem for a democracy. It means older, less educated voters are voting in disproportionate numbers. Hence, a minority of voters are electing candidates to the right of center. You’re completely missing this reality by blaming centrism for the problem. Nice try, but wrong…completely wrong.

Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism