289 The Center

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Since most people don't have any political ideology except “what do I get?” and “don't change my life,” concepts like The Left & The Right are really only understood by wonks, and aren't a very accurate portrayal of political reality anyway. Usually the terms are used in the context of one side disparaging the other: The Left doesn't call itself “The Left,” too many negative connotations; ditto for The Right. The term people will voluntarily use to describe their own political affiliation is “The Center,” because they imagine the political spectrum is linear, and they don't want to be on either end, not extreme; in fact, they're snowflakes, unique in their own special way, neither The Left nor The Right.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">However, The Center has no formal definition; it can only be deduced by considering what the two ends are and going halfway. For example, The Left prefers to be governed by The State, a cabal of egalitarian mystics with the ability to tell the future, while The Right wants government by a Meritocracy, as determined by wealth, which comes as a reward from God for being righteous.<br />The Left resists change due to inertia, bureaucracy, while The Right resists change due to maintaining status quo, conservatism. The Left believes the group always has precedence over an individual, Socialist, while The Right believes an individual always has precedence over the group, Libertarian. Actually, The Center is pretty easy to spot: they want it both ways.</p>