First Principles

Obama appointees have often been labeled centrists, despite the lack of agreement on what it means to be a centrist. The primary goal of this blog, which may become a Wiki-blog ("bliki") if I find an appropriate platform, is to articulate principles that can underlie centrist policies, thereby giving them intellectual underpinnings.

Why is this important? The knock on centrists (by extremist conservatives and liberals alike) is that they are "moderates" - really a "mushy middle." Mainstream media generally presents two sides of any question, when the third side - a 360-degree view from the middle - might actually lead to solutions rather than nightly bickering by talking heads.

I believe credible principles backed by a coherent world view are essential for a Muscular Middle to emerge. This initial posting is not intended to be a comprehensive nor well organized list, but rather, an initial dump of thoughts to be assembled, expanded, interconnected, polished, and of course discussed over the next five years.

Balance (aka The Goldilocks Principle)
When values or principles conflict, centrists seek creative balance such that opposing values can both be honored while unintended consequences of extremist adherence are minimized.

Results
Typically politicians declare victory when a bill is passed. Businesses know that new product launches mark the beginning of the work, not the end. Centrists understand that balanced results aren't guaranteed by mere compromises; victory can't be declared until inevitable unintended consequences surface and are addressed.

360-Degree View
The right and the left have their blind spots, people or constituencies they largely ignore. Centrists have to work harder, striving to understand policy implications for everyone.

Policy Dials
Extremists hyperbolize about capitalism suddenly switching to socialism, or popular safety nets disappearing with a click of a voting booth for the "other" party. Centrists see a rainbow of options, a broad spectrum of policy choices that can be adjusted between values (fairness versus effectiveness, freedom versus security) on a policy dial.

Open Minds
AKA "The Truth Is My Friend." Nobody has a monopoly on the truth, and centrists are unafraid to embrace good ideas as well as harsh realities wherever they appear.

Humility With Confidence
In a complex universe centrists eschew blinding hubris. That does not preclude optimism and confidence that collectively we can overcome any obstacles the universe might throw at us.

Mutual Respect
We believe that all men are created equal. Combine that with open minds and confident humility, you get a prescription for mutual respect as a centrist modus operandi that stands in stark contrast to shrill put-downs from Extremist Talking Heads. Centrists don't make for great television, they make for great governance.

Informed Loyalty
Centrists love our country. But friends don't let friends... and citizens don't let their government...

Enlightened Self-Interest
Conservatives have faith that self-interest, guided by Adam Smith's "invisible hand," will lead to optimal social outcomes. Only when we myopic humans look long-term with 360-degree vision do we develop enlightened self-interest that truly can lead to great social outcomes.

Freedom From, Freedom To
Liberals emphasize freedom "from" poverty, prejudice, injustice. Conservatives emphasize freedom "to" live their lives without government interference. Both are important to centrists.

Centrist Economics
The "free market" versus "socialism" debate has reared its ugly head. In its place I'll be offering a different view on the appropriate relationship between commerce and government.

Marketology is the classification of markets, which are incredibly diverse, according to attributes which suggest different government approaches should be taken based on those attributes.

Fair Markets combine the "conservative" (or classical liberal) appreciation of markets' benefits with the notion that government often needs to play referee, and maybe set the rules of the game, to keep capitalists from "cheating."

Popular capitalism is the most desirable form of private ownership of the means of production, in contrast to crony capitalism, corporatism, mercantilism, kleptocracies, and lots of other approaches that have been tried from time to time.

Behavioral economics is an important emerging field at the intersection of psychology and economics, whose experimental data results need to inform policy far more than they do.

Incentive misalignment is far too common in "free" markets and leads to undesirable results, the mortgage meltdown being only the most recent example.

Competing competitions can lead to meritocratic "free" markets being overthrown by crony capitalists, mercantilists, Machiavellianists, and even thugocracies.

That's it for now - I know there's more, but dinner is calling!