Left-Center-Right Sub-species

Wikipedia tells me that the modern American left includes New Deal liberals, Rawlsian liberals, social democrats and civil libertarians.

Conservative classifications include fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, libertarians (who sometimes argue they are neither conservative nor liberal), and the much-maligned neoconservatives. I'm not quite sure yet where the Edmund Burke/Kirk Russell followers would fit.

It would follow, then, that Centrists will include sub-species as well. Utterly speculating here, there might be Pragmatists, Realists, Fiscally Conservative Social Moderates, Poll Reading Straddlers (a brand of politicians, not voters), Moderate Republicans and Conservative Democrats. 

I'm a Fiscally Conservative Social Moderate.  I believe I have lots of company, but I'll need some hard data to back that up. Hopefully some enterprising political scientists have conducted polls that break out these nuances.

First Principles III

80/20 Government

Far too often government policies inadequately focus on the 20% that’s causing 80% of the problem. For example, if the current financial crisis focused on fixing the housing problems in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida they might actually have fixed something by now.

Value for Tax Dollars

It’s not unreasonable to ask the government what we’re getting for our tax dollars, and to see annual measures of the overhead in the services provided. Americans don’t mind getting value for their tax dollars – it’s bridges to nowhere, $50 toilet seats, bloated bureaucracies, corporate welfare and cushy government retirement benefits that raise centrist citizen dander. The federal government has started the process of evaluating program efficiency, which is a good beginning. Another way of expressing this is...

It's Our Money

Centrists would align with conservatives in asserting that the money we earn, the wealth we accumulate, belongs first to we the people. Government of the people only earns the right to use some of it in the form of taxes by spending it wisely, with the consent of the people. Obviously we the people don't agree on everything, so not all expenditures will be made with the consent of all the people. That does not, however, give elected officials carte blanche to spend wildly, which is the perennial danger of those who deal with Other People's Money (OPM can be as addicting as opium).

What Does Government/The Market Do Well?

Typical conservative/liberal spitball fights are full of generalizations and often low on specifics when it comes to the relative competencies of government and markets. Centrists want the facts – inquiring minds want to know.

Reason Rules

Going back to Plato, centrists have advocated that reason should rule over passion, both in government and individual behavior (see http://theglitteringeye.com/?p=2926 for a thoughtful advocacy of moderation). 

Conservative Principles

A list of centrist principles ought to look like a list of conservative or liberal principles - or so I thought as I Googled today. It appears that conservatives have their framework much more clearly thought out than liberals.

Russell Kirk wins the prize for conciseness and clarity here:

http://www.kirkcenter.org/kirk/ten-principles.html

I've summarized them below, but the thinking is pretty clear - not that I agree with all of the points, nor do I find the principles addressing everything they should.

First, the conservative believes that there exists an enduring moral order.

Second, the conservative adheres to custom, convention, and continuity.

Third, conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription.

Fourth, conservatives are guided by their principle of prudence.

Fifth, conservatives pay attention to the principle of variety.

Sixth, conservatives are chastened by their principle of imperfectability.

Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked.

Eighth, conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism.

Ninth, the conservative perceives the need for prudent restraints upon power and upon human passions.

Tenth, the thinking conservative understands that permanence and change must be recognized and reconciled in a vigorous society.

Other principles of equal importance might have been discussed here: the conservative understanding of justice, for one, or the conservative view of education.

So far I haven't found a liberal equivalent coming from a thinker of Russell Kirk's stature.