The Middle Ground

We are political fence sitters and proud of it; we are the middle ground. We have some “liberal” views, and some “conservative” views. We are not “confused” or “wishy-washy”—we are simply too intelligent and sensitive to limit ourselves to one way of thinking and are able to be happy and productive no matter which Party is in charge. We are the middle ground. We are Proud Americans first and do not idolize politicians. We far outnumber extreme liberals and conservatives. We are the middle ground. Many of us are non-affiliated (aka “Independents”) because we don’t like being told to think one way or the other by limiting Party ideology. We are the middle ground. We unconditionally love and support our Country, and thus naturally support our leaders whether we agree with them or not. We are the middle ground.

This wild left-right roller-coaster ride has got to stop, or at least settle down a bit! We need leaders who will lead from and toward the middle—thereby representing the vast majority of us—and not be beholden to either minority extreme or Party. We need leaders with the intelligence and courage to say “I hear what you’re saying, but I also hear what the other person is saying. Let’s find an answer that will serve the greater good.”

Just to add to the difficulty of this task, we need them to be from the two legitimate Parties, so they can be at least nominally represented and credited. Until the election rules change (written and enforced by the two Parties, so good luck there! It would be like asking Congress to vote for a pay cut or term limits), there will never be a legitimate “third Party.” A third-Party vote is a wasted vote that could be used to keep an obvious crook out of office… [I learned that lesson in 2016]

We trust that our great system of checks and balances will keep us on an even keel as it mostly has for nearly 250 years. When certain extremist elements start railing for Civil War or succession though, we become fearful that there may not be enough calm centrist voices left in government to keep the system working—not enough intelligent folks who realize and celebrate our amazing diversity and are masters of the fine art of compromise. Our laughter at the ridiculous rants of extremist ideology turns to horror as we realize it may just happen. We try our best to use our votes as we see fit to steer the Country down the middle and maintain a healthy balance (evidence of our calming influence can easily be seen in the 2020 and 2022 election results).

We would run for office, but who are we? We are the middle ground; the quiet, contented Americans who go about our daily business, generally happy with life. We don’t get all worked up by social issues, and we rarely raise our voice in protest or partake in silly partisan boycotts. We try to be friends or at least friendly with everyone, regardless of what they believe or how they look. We value friendship over politics, unity over Party-fueled division, calm over chaos. We believe that all Americans have a voice, but that only in chorus are we effective; the more harmonious the chorus, the louder we are.

The middle ground’s only weakness is that we lack the charisma or the extremist fervor to get people into the spotlight and elected to office. We are “moderate” by definition, personality, and temperament, and thus rarely “make the news.” If extremists on both ends of the spectrum would just take a chill pill, shut up for a minute, and listen a little bit, they may hear our calm, un-sensationalized voices, begging for common sense for the common good, and offering intelligent, unbiased advice for how to achieve it.

We already occupy the middle ground that will hopefully always be there—stuck between the extremes of Left and Right and keeping them from cutting each other’s throats. Hey, somebody has to do it!

We are the middle ground.