Principles
What Works
Centrists value what works – which is not to be confused with “the ends justify the means.” With a 360-degree, long-term view, centrists don’t advocate expediency for short-term results or horrific means to achieve them.
Genetic Similarity
There’s no reason to think humans who choose business careers have a nature or nurture substantially different from public servants. The litany of human weaknesses and quirks that can lead to untoward business results also plague those on government payrolls. So while liberals give government benefit of the doubt and conservatives cut business a break, centrists give the public and private sectors equal measures of support and skepticism.
Distributed Honeypots
Part of the genius and success of American democratic capitalism is that power and money are widely distributed among competing government branches and industry giants, which helps mitigate (but does not eliminate) self-dealing by Big Leaders.
Bill of Responsibilities
In a world of conflicting rights, individuals must exercise responsibility, the first of which is to respect others’ rights.
Equal Opportunity, Not Equal Results
Exceptionally capable people happen, and we all benefit when their abilities are amply rewarded. Progress and growth are highly dependent on outliers. At the same time, we all benefit when human capital is fully developed across the board. Equal opportunity is in all of our enlightened self-interest as well as being the right thing to do.
Transparency
In government and commerce, transparency is essential to proper functioning. It’s often battled, occasionally for good reasons but more often to hide socially undesirable behavior.
Accountability
Democracy and capitalism don’t work without accountability. Incumbents will forever attempt to escape or soften or delay or defer their judgment days. Widespread bailouts and 95% re-election rates are not a good sign.
Contextualism, Not Relativism
Centrists believe in the importance of core values like liberty, personal responsibility, supporting the needy, protecting the innocent. They are not relativists who believe that all values are relative and judging one higher than another is pointless. However, in the real world core values can collide, and context is the key to assessing balance – which means that no value is permanently dominant.
World View
Financial Incentives Matter A Lot
If you want to figure out whether markets, businesses, and even government agencies are working as they should, follow the money.
Watch the Watchdogs
Government isn’t the only important commerce referee. Accounting firms, boards of directors, bond rating companies, stock analysts, buy-side investors, banks and the press all play important roles. If watchdog financial incentives are misaligned, trouble follows.
Elite Hubris
Smart people often over-rate their own abilities. Too often elite policy prescriptions project their over-rated abilities onto their favorite organizations – government, business, religion, non-profits. Average competence is in fact alarmingly low, and it is average public servants, business people and ministers who implement these prescriptions to continual disappointment.
Mistakes Happen
In a complex universe filled with uncertainty, mistakes happen all the time. To err is human, to recognize and correct them quickly is divine.
Unintended Consequences Happen
In a complex universe filled with uncertainty, many choices produce unwanted, unintended results alongside the desirable. Hubris-fired elite myopia compounds the problem with denial. Humble centrists plan for the unexpected and adjust at the line of scrimmage.
Not So Simple
Democracy is more than voting. Capitalism is more than private ownership. Actually, they are much more. The failure of neoconservatives stems from their overly simplified understanding of democracy and capitalism.
The Rules of the Game
Democracy and capitalism have extensive rules that dramatically affect outcomes. It’s often easier to rig the rules in your favor than win on merit, so rule rigging is frequent and attempted rule rigging never ends. Never.
Watch the Bigs
Big government, big business, big religion, big unions, big non-profits, big military… when power and money amass under one roof, it’s an irresistible honey pot for those who crave power and money, and a heady brew for all who try to lead. Large organizations are uniquely capable of massive projects (think lunar landings) but create Sisyphean imperatives for corruption watchdogs.
Short Termism
One of our most debilitating human flaws is our propensity to embrace short-term rewards over long-term success. Encouraging long-termism is both important and difficult.
Policy Prescriptions
Democracy 2.0
The US led the world in creating modern democracy, but as other countries have created their constitutions, some of America’s “legacy systems” have not been emulated. It’s time to upgrade.
Votes and Purchases: Crude Tools
In our multi-polar, multi-issue, two-party democracy, a vote provides insufficient information. Is it supporting economic policy? Social? Foreign? Or just good teeth? Similarly, purchasing multi-featured products in crowded markets is insufficient to guide product planning. Democracy and capitalism need more information-rich transactions.
Immigrants Fuel Growth
The data show immigrants and their children contribute disproportionately to America’s growth. Steady immigrant flow is key to creation of new companies, new industries, new jobs, and American competitive advantage in the globalized twenty-first century.
Centrist Economics
Economic Evolution
Capitalist commerce follows evolutionary patterns just like ecosystems and species. Innovations have improved American capitalism, although extinctions and dangerous mutations happen along the way. More innovations are needed to polish capitalism’s rough edges.
Massively Synchronized Errors
Mistakes and failures that happen randomly with bounded and predictable frequency do not hobble modern capitalist systems. When errors are massively synchronized – as in most homeowners and mortgage lenders believing that housing prices can strongly rise without end – recessions happen and bubbles burst.
Economic Acts = Experiments
Every economic action is like a scientific experiment. There is a thesis – demand today will be like demand yesterday; buying this product will make me happy – and the results of the action are forecast with some perceived and actual risk of failure.
(Un)Manageable Risks
All businesses face daily risks. A business executive’s job is to manage those risks within their grasp: people, technology, competitive strategy, financial management. Government’s job is to minimize unmanageable business risks: unpredictable inflation, unstable growth, infrastructure costs, security, the rule of law, bad actors (economic actors that is, although Hollywood isn’t great at eliminating the other kind).
2 comments:
Here's one you might consider: moderation in comportment and expression is as important as moderation in policy.
Here's a post of mine on moderation as a principle of government.
Hi Dave-
I've thought about this, and I agree it's an ideal for citizens and politicians alike. Although I don't say "moderation," advocating mutual respect and believing that "editing is the essence of civilization" lead in the same direction.
As noted in your thoughtful post, the word "moderation" has acquired a pejorative connotation of late. That's why I'm hesitating to use the word "moderate" at all in the principles. Words matter - current usage matters. For example, "prudence" from the list of conservative principles is no longer in common usage. "Comportment" is another good word more likely to be found on SAT tests than in current writing.
A more current way of expressing this principle is "Reason Rules." From your posting, Plato said this desirable quality is "the agreement of the passions that reason should rule." Besides the alliterative quality, this catchphrase has the merit of strength. My goal is to provide backbone to a muscular middle.
Post a Comment