The problem with centrism, from the perspective of a moderate
Centrism is often criticised by both sides in most countries. I feel one of the major reasons for that is because all too often Centrism, like many political stances, is subject to the current political atmosphere in a country.
I’m a centrist, but I too have many issues with centrist stances in the countries whose politics I follow (namely India, US, Germany, and Pakistan and Canada to some extent). That’s because those stances are in the centre (more or less) of their political climate, and they’re all over the place. In my opinion, if they were truly centrist, most of their policies would fall either left or right in these countries, while some would be on the other side or the middle. But that doesn’t happen, thereby making them seem half-hearted, fake and weak. Even hypocritical sometimes.
One such example would be Joe Biden/the establishment Democratic Party. I really dislike many of Biden’s policies for America. I won’t vote for him even if he’s considered centrist in their system. That doesn’t mean I will vote for the Republican Party either. I would fall slightly right of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party in the USA currently (but it depends on how left the progressive wing becomes, for me to say whether I’ll vote for them or not, although they seem the closest to my stances if I were an American).
The Congress Party in India is another example of centrism gone wrong, with them being too left leaning for my liking post-independence, although still having coherent stances. In modern times, however, their stances have simply been unorganised and scattered. I can’t imagine myself voting for this version of the centrist party.
I don’t know what this phenomenon is called in academic terms, but I’ve come to the conclusion and formed a theory that there are the "staunch" centrists who take a middle ground on most issues, and are subject to the political climate, which dictates their middle ground. I don’t support this kind of centrism usually. Then there are the centrists, who take a determined left or right stance on most issues, and the middle in a few, thereby becoming "centrists by average". Those are the kinds I usually support. Centrism needs principles, just like the left or the right. It can’t just be the middle ground on most or all issues.
The other issue I feel is that, many centrist stances don't think things through in many cases, just like almost every other political stance. That adds to their problems, and it's even more imperative that centrists do that in such polarised times because one of their inherent key characteristics is to evaluate both sides before taking a stance.
If centrism is to become the enlightening and non-partisan solution it envisions itself to be, centrists have to evaluate themselves first, and then back those reformed stances. The focus should be on bringing the existing system to a common, global middle ground, instead of being in the middle of the existing system.
