America’s Crazy Centrists and Moderate Extremists
Bizarrely, extremists who pretend to be centrists; or moderates, are one of the most influential factions in American politics.
Frighteningly, those extremists are becoming crazier; and more extreme, in their policies. Like most extremists, America’s extremist centrists are irrational and intolerant of dissent and criticism.
A typical example of a moderate extremist is Hillary R, Clinton (D-New York). Clinton is branding presidential candidate U.S. Rep Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) a “Russian asset.” Incredibly, Clinton went as far to claim the Russians are grooming Gabbard; a loyal Democrat, for a third-party presidential run to help President Donald R. Trump (R-New York) get reelected in 2020, The New York Times claims.
Hillary R. Clinton Irrational Extremist
Clinton is using a classic extremist propaganda tactic against Gabbard. The tactic; a favorite strategy of Communists, is to discredit internal critics by linking them to outside enemies.
In Hillary’s eyes, Gabbard’s crime is to demand that America adopt a reasonable foreign policy. For instance, Gabbard wants the US to stop invading foreign countries to seize their economic resources. In addition, Gabbard thinks America needs to obey international law and respect the sovereignty of other nations.
Gabbard’s foreign policy beliefs are reminiscent of that radical leftist President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-Kansas). To clarify, Eisenhower believed the United States; and other nations, need to follow international law and respect other countries’ sovereignty.
Clinton would label Eisenhower an enemy
Ike also thought invading other countries to protect “American interests” was wrong. For instance, Eisenhower could have easily sent U.S. Marines to Cuba to wipe out Fidel Castro in the 1950s, he did not.
In addition, in 1956 when three American “allies;” the United Kingdom, Israel, and France, invaded Egypt to seize that country’s most valuable asset the Suez Canal. Eisenhower sided with Egypt’s anti-American leader General Gamal Nasser against America’s so-called allies. The three invaders had to withdraw destroying British and French colonial power.
Clinton, however, sees nothing wrong with bombing countries; like Iraq, Libya, and Syria back to the stone age in the name of “national security.” Hence, blogger Caitlin Johnstone correctly notes that centrist interventionists like Clinton promote an extremist foreign policy while Gabbard is the true moderate.
Irrational Centrists and Moderate Nuts
I think Hillary is doing us all a favor by showing America how nutty and irrational the centrists have become. In fact, I think centrists like Clinton have lost touch with reality.
Take single-payer healthcare, a concept “moderates” like The Week’s William Falk reject as too “extreme” for America. Moderate Democrats reject single-payer health care as socialist, politically impossible and unworkable in America. To explain, in single-payer health insurance the government pays for all citizens’ health care with tax money.
International Insurance.com estimates 32 countries have single-payer health insurance. The Single-Payer nations include Norway, Finland, and Sweden; which tied for the honor of being the world’s freest nation in Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2017 report.
Moreover, Forbes ranks Finland as “the world’s happiest nation.” In addition, Forbes lists Norway as the “world’s second happiest nation.”
Nor is single-payer health insurance a socialist plot. Sweden; a bastion of single-payer, is home to such popular and aggressively competitive companies’ such as Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) and IKEA. American single-payer advocates include such super capitalists as Warren Buffett and his sidekick Charles Munger.
Joe Biden Centrist Extremist
Hence, single-payer healthcare works and makes countries freer and happier. Therefore, you would assume rational American politicians are working to build a singe-payer system in America.
However, “moderate” Democrats; like the presidential candidate Joe Biden (D-Delaware), refuse to discuss the possibility of single-payer. Not surprisingly, The Intercept’s Lee Fang alleges healthcare lobbyists are funding a Super PAC (political action committee) to fund Biden’s campaign.
I think Biden rejects single-payer because it threatens some big corporations’ profits. Hence, there is a lot of charlatanism in America’s centrist extremism. To explain, politicians like Biden and Clinton adopt “moderate” positions because there is big money in centrism.
Tellingly, Fang claims other donors to Biden’s Super PAC; include the giant defense contractor Raytheon (NYSE: RTN). Therefore, a position is “moderate,” if it serves the interests of large corporations. If a proposal threatens corporations’ profits, it is dangerous and radical.
For instance, more armed intervention requires the military to buy more weapons and munitions. Hence, defense contractors make more money, so centrists become interventionists.
Extremist Centrist Politicians Vs. America
Interestingly, the American people like the idea of single-payer health care, or Medicare for All.
For example, the 24 October 2019 Quinnipiac Poll estimates 44% of Democratic primary voters support candidates who favor Medicare for All. In detail, Quinnipiac calculates 28% of Democratic voters support U.S. Senator Liz Warren (D-Massachusetts); 15% of Democrats favor U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), and 1% back Andrew Yang (D-New York). All three candidates advocate Medicare for All.
In contrast, Quinnipiac estimates only 27% of Democrats back Biden. Meanwhile, Quinnipiac calculates the support for most “moderate” Democratic presidential candidates at 0%.
Yet, moderate pundits such as Falk claim Medicare for All will turn voters against Democrats. However, the 17.2% of Americans the US Census Bureau estimates participate in Medicare, America’s single-payer health insurance system for seniors, in 2017 disagree.
Moreover, the Census Bureau estimates 37.7% of Americans; or 124.294 million people, use government health insurance. To explain, that number includes Medicare and Medicaid, a state-administered single-payer program for the poor. The Census Bureau estimates 19.3% of Americans participated in Medicaid in 2019.
In fact, the percentage of Americans using single-payer health insurance is growing. The Census Bureau estimates the number of Americans on Medicare grew by 0.6% between 2016 and 2017.
Thus, single-payer health insurance is popular and widely used in America. Yet, self-proclaimed “moderate” thought leaders label Medicare for All a dangerous and radical notion.
The Two Americas
I contend, America is divided between a majority with a fairly reasonable and realistic worldview and an extremist minority that masquerades as a centrist ruling class.
Hence, it is easy to see why observers like Pat Buchanan believe America is two different nations ideologically. To explain, Buchanan thinks the United States has an “Imperial Capital,” but an America-First Nation.” Buchanan’s thesis is that “moderate” leaders in Washington are imperialists, but average Americans oppose imperialism.
Notably, President Donald J. Trump (R-New York); a former “moderate Democrat” who ran as a non-interventionist, has adopted an increasingly imperialist foreign policy. Disgustingly, Trump admitted that he is ordering American troops to seize Syrian oilfields during a 27 October 2019 TV appearance to announce the death of ISIS mastermind Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
To explain, Trump is trying to win support among “moderates” who back impeachment by trumpeting his adoption of their loathsome foreign policy. Note: a few days before the announcement, Trump falsely claimed he was pulling American troops out of Syria.
Thus, Trump; the supposed foe of the centrist extremists, is a charter member of their club. The difference between Trump and Clinton is that the Donald is better at hiding his true beliefs. Hence, Trump can tell a crowd in Kentucky one thing and a group of executives in the Hampdens another.
What Motivates Centrist Extremism?
An ugly mixture of greed, political opportunism, and American exceptionalism motivates centrist extremism.
For instance, centrists reject ideas; such as single-payer healthcare and the Value Added-Tax (VAT), because they are “un-American.” Historically, however, America often adopted successful policies pioneered by foreign governments.
They invented Social Security in Germany; and an independent Air Force was a British idea, for example. Yet both Social Security and the US Air Force are now as American as apple pie (another British invention).
Hence, the centrist extremists cloak their profiteering behind shallow patriotism. However, their agenda is both radical and clear. The Centrist extremists want to restore a 19th Century economy dominated by large corporations and robber barons in America. That is a radical agenda most Americans reject.
Unlike, Libertarians and fiscal conservatives; who make a legitimate ideological case for unrestrained capitalism, the centrists’ only motivation is greed. Indeed, many centrists criticize capitalism in public, while lining their pockets with corporate cash in private.
Centrist Extremism Pays in America
Moderate extremists love big business because big corporations make a lot of money from the present American power structure.
Moreover, those corporations will share that wealth with “journalists,” “pundits,” “intellectuals,” and politicians who promote and defend that system. Therefore, centrist extremism pays in America, so politicians like Joe Biden, Donald J. Trump, and Hillary R. Clinton embrace it.
Only money and power matter to centrist extremists. Truth, ideology, humanity, compassion, patriotism, God, values, and ethics are irrelevant in the centrist extremists’ worldview. Hence, moderate extremists will lie and try to destroy anybody who stands in their way.
Centrist extremism is a problem that reasonable Americans on both the left and the right need to overcome. The first step in destroying centrist extremism is the defeat of politicians who practice it – beginning with Joe Biden and Donald J. Trump.