Great post, thank you kindly for writing it. I ...

2009-12-24T15:05:50.041-05:00

Great post, thank you kindly for writing it.

I could not agree more with your points. I have taken some interest in a few approaches other people have taken to TRYING to address this dilemma, although none of them have had great success.

* Radical Middle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_middle) - An interesting attempt to find a truly different way that is not simply a compromise between Left and Right. I like their spirit, but it does not resonate with my personal views as much as I would like.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_America_Foundation - Is a self-proclaimed radical centrist organization that has succeeded in gaining real media attention.

* Big L Libertarians - The official libertarian party seems to be way out on the extreme relative to the US population and infuses the word Libertarian with an overly strong connotation (IMHO). That party is small in numbers and influence.

* Small L libertarians - I consider libertarians to be those who (like you and I) place economic and personal freedom high on our list of priorities. Such libertarians believe that free markets are powerful forces for freedom and prosperity, but that they are no panacea. Such libertarians believe there is an invaluable role for government in human affairs - but that government intervention has far less effectiveness than most people assume. Such people put a lot of weight behind well-proven areas of economics - they especially believe that incentives matter.

* Experimentalist (my own term) - This would be people who may bring any ideology to the table, but are willing to create fair experiments to test hypothesis and then LIVE by the results of those hypothesis. This category is my favorite, but it is one that has not proven extremely powerful politically.

Comments on Half Full: thoughts on left vs right

Great post, thank you kindly for writing it. I ...