About Us

At CenterMovement.org we aim to be the voice and meeting place of the American Center. By “center” we don’t necessarily mean “moderate.” Yes, we hope to maintain a moderate tone and reasoned approach to politics and public policy. And yes, we will often find ourselves between the right and the left on the political spectrum, and we will look for common ground. But in the end political movements are not built on lukewarm positions. “We demand everything the extremists do, only less of it!” isn’t much of a rallying cry.

Nor is moderation necessarily where we are philosophically. Instead of looking for compromises in every scrap of legislation churning its way through Congress, we seek out the broad center of the American political tradition. We are not afraid of radical structural change when such change promises to restore the spirit of American democracy. When it comes to the currently dysfunctional areas of healthcare, education, and the election system, for examples, we think drastic change is required. Moderate temperament need not lead to timid measures.
See What We Believe.

We know we are not alone in our thinking. Pew Research reports that 36% of all American voters call themselves “Independent.” Similarly, Gallup finds that 35% of us consider ourselves “moderate.” We are more than one third of the electorate, but one would never know it by listening to the media, which increasingly markets itself to one partisan extreme or another. We suspect many in the Center have simply given up.

One sad result of the political polarization of “mainstream” media is the degradation of objective reporting standards and the corruption of news reporting into political spin. Arguably the New York Times is today for the Democrats what Fox News is for the Republicans. At CenterMovement.org we intend to help our readers unspin the news, but must admit that we too will be playing by the new rules of politicized media – the difference is that our biased perspective is a centrist one. We believe our political system would be better off if the American media would return to a place of greater professionalism and take more pride in producing balanced news coverage, but media analysis is not our particular mission.

CenterMovement.org’s focus will be on public policy and government problem solving. Our mission is to “reform, reinvigorate and depolarize American politics and public policy; to pull public policy to the philosophical center; and to improve the general functioning of American democracy and government” (from our mission statement). This internet journal, designed to provide information and foster debate around Centrist politics, is the first of a two-phase strategy. Please bookmark this page, and visit us a couple of times each week.

Our second phase is to use the critical mass of the readership we create on these pages to build a grassroots political movement and lobby organization. See Our Plan. Only then can we reasonably expect to translate ideas into results. Please consider joining us. We are under no illusions that it will be anything less than a long and difficult journey, but let it begin here.

Executive Director’s Report, September, 2010

This week marks the one-year anniversary of CenterMovement.org.  The current political scene nationally justifies our mission now more than ever.    The most partisan President in memory,  Barack Obama,  and the most partisan Congress, led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, have spawned a reaction, the Tea Party, the most radical conservative populist uprising in memory.  In recent primaries, including the ones last Tuesday, the Tea Party has been on the march, winning victory after victory.  The next Congress promises to be even more devoid of Republicans and Democrats willing to work together for the good of the country, a fact that will likely lead to gridlock at a time when we need legislative action on many fronts.

Over the past year, we have tried to point out opportunities where – had our leaders been able to put aside their rigid ideologies and partisanship – sensible and solid common ground could have been found.  Healthcare reform offers a particularly telling example.  The Wyden-Bennett Bill was fiscally responsible, market-driven, and universal in its coverage.   Tragically the President stiff-armed its creator, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden.  President Obama essentially pretended that Wyden’s option did not even exist.  The Democratic Leadership seems hell-bent on moving the ball as far down the road to a single-payer healthcare system as possible.    Meanwhile, the Utah Tea Party purged Wyden’s Republican partner, Senator Bill Bennett, in part for his work with Senator Wyden on healthcare.   Bipartisanship is increasingly the political kiss of death, especially for Republicans.  Now we are left with a monstrosity of a healthcare law, with too few bipartisan reformers left to fix the mess.  Nancy Pelosi famously said, in reference to the now-enacted 1,500 page healthcare  law, ” “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.”    This is no way to govern.

CenterMovement .org, after one year, is still a very small player in the scheme of things, but our dreams remain big.  We are mostly proud of the content we have produced during our first year.  We have been on the cutting edge of a number of issues, we have offered alternatives, and we have spotlighted deserving but under-reported stories.   We remain committed to the simple and patriotic idea that we Americans should work together to make the United States a better place.

We at CenterMovement.org  are not satisfied to be just another blog.  Our strategic plan calls for us to turn readership into civic action, and to bring activist to our pages for more content to fuel their activism (a sort of combination of the Huffington Post and MoveOn.org, only with a centrist orientation).  We think there is potential in this oddly under-utilized web-based model to produce powerful synergies.    Goodness knows, these days we non-partisan folk need all of the power we can get.

In a number of areas – such as election reform, the debt / deficit, healthcare, education and immigration – it is absolutely essential that partisanship be put aside for the common good.   Imagine the world if CenterMovement.org had built up to a highly successful grassroots organization beginning ten years ago.  Imagine what today would be like if CenterMovement.org, or some organization like us, had possessed the popular power to champion the approach to healthcare reform advocated by Senators Wyden and Bennett.  Imagine how much better off our country would be if a Centrist approach had won the healthcare debate.   Not only would our healthcare system be greatly improved, but we would have a cooperative base on which to build, rather than finding ourselves in ideological trench warfare, as we are at present.

This coming year will be a test for us at CenterMovement.org.  We must now begin to realize our vision of a web journal that drives civic action, and civic action that builds readership.  In the coming months we will be seeking funding for the first of our campaigns, “The Campaign for Democratic Renewal,” the objective of which is to eliminate a government  system of, by, and for the special interests and the entrenched politicians it serves. We expect to announce our campaign for a package of election-reform concepts designed to unite reformers from Left to Right and to create a layered Constitutional defense against the corruption of democracy.    Keep visiting our site in the coming weeks and months for more details.

An anniversary is also a time to take stock in our shortcomings.  We have not marketed our site as well as we wish we had.  Marketing is not our strong suit, but with time and funding, we expect to remedy this deficiency.  Please help us if you appreciate what we are trying to do.  Get involved.  In addition to marketing, we need writers, and underwriters, and just plain supporters who are willing to pass the word about us.  Write us.  Let us know how you would like to help.  When you read something you like, please considering sending it out to your friends or promoting it on facebook.

Thanks for reading.  Thanks for caring about your country.  Stay centered.