Comments on: What Is A Centrist?

By: Jonathon York

Jonathon York — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 05:00:40 +0000

I’ve seen the Nolan Quiz. I’ve posted about it elsewhere, and have seen a sample of how influential it appears to be. Here’s a link to an earlier post about it:
http://theleotest.typepad.com/the_leo_test/2005/07/of_the_most_pop.html

A sample of related links appears on the left side of the page under “Other Models”. Some of them are Nolan variants, some are not.

By: David Aitken

David Aitken — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 21:02:03 +0000

Maybe I’m being snarky, but a centrist is someone who holds positions that have no coherent political philosophy in common. Take the quiz at http://www.theadvocates.org/ for a different political map.

By: Jonathon York

Jonathon York — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 21:32:27 +0000

Oh yes. Much.

By: Karl Gallagher

Karl Gallagher — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 18:49:21 +0000

I am not a centrist. I’m extreme in a different direction. Always hated the left-right concept. It’s much more complicated than that.

By: jonathon

jonathon — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 13:02:56 +0000

“In favor of lesbians marrying and adopting kids while stockpiling guns in the basement of their house” is a libertarian sentiment, not a ‘centrist’. By contrasts, the “socially conservative, fiscally liberal” stance, taken as a mirror image, is a communitarian.
If however you’re willing to entertain a reasonable idea or policy, even to the point of abandoning a previous conviction on the basis of new evidence, then yes, you’re probably a centrist. The centrist is in a tense position. He must be able to balance varying positions regarding different policies, especially if those positions appear to ideologues to contradict each other, firmly hold that those positions have merit, and demonstrate that they are not, in fact in opposition to each other.