Allan Bevere on the Left-Right Continuum

Allan Bevere says that the left-right continuum doesn’t work. He’s citing someone else’s work first, but he’s applying the results to theology and ethics as well as politics.

I use the term moderate to describe both my own politics and faith. This results from my view that there are many different issues with a continuum of possible views on each. As a moderate I neither assume that I must be at one end or the other of any continuum nor that I must accept a group of viewpoints. So in politics I lean toward the capitalist side on economics while on a number of social issues I lean toward what would be considered liberal. I’m not anti-war as such, but I approve of it only reluctantly under limited circumstances. I would probably be considered left of center on some social issues and right of center on others.

I’ve written on this before: Being a Passionate Moderate and Moderate Thinking. The word “moderate” has many uses. I choose to continue to use it and then to define what I mean, which is “not bound to any extreme or group of extremes.” That means that I can take a position that is seen as extreme if I think it’s justified. It’s also why my voter registration is as an independent. I strongly object to the institutionalization of the two party system.

In any case, read Allan’s post. It’s worth thinking about.