There is a constant attempt, usually in the establishment media, to frame our politics along a left-right-center spectrum. This is convenient code in some respects. Like shorthand, it prevents us from having to spell out every single position on every single issue every time we discuss someone's politics. But unfortunately, that shorthand is inaccurate.
One of the consequences of this spectrum frame, however, is that it creates the impression that both sides have merit and by finding a happy medium, the magical center, one make stake out the most sensible position. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We progressives have been cowed by a constant barrage of messaging that tries to tell us that our views are extreme and outside the norm of mainstream America. Like our counter-part of the radical right, they say, we should not be taken seriously because, again, the center is where sensibility resides.
This is nothing but corporatist propaganda.
In reality, there is no spectrum. Only issues. And on issue after issue after issue, progressives have been right, and our political adversaries wrong. It's that simple. And as the title says, there is no "center" between right and wrong.
We need to have strong minds and keep reminding ourselves of this constantly.
We don't just lean towards equal rights for all people. We know that denying those rights to anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, color of skin, or ethnicity is wrong. There is no middle ground.
We're not radically or extreme in our opposition to torture. We know for a fact that torturing people is wrong. No if, ands, or buts.
We know that allowing corporations to profiteer off of sick people is wrong.
We also know that poisoning our rivers, oceans and atmosphere and leaving a wasteland for our children is wrong.
Allowing greedy corporations whose only objective is maximizing profits to drill oil in our oceans and along our coastlines is wrong.
Allowing billionaires to subvert our democracy and bribe our elected officials is not debatable, negotiable or acceptable. It is wrong.
Sinking all of our money into the most destructive military arsenal in the history of the world while our country falls into decay is not only wrong, it is immoral.
Allowing our country to fall into decay, with our schools overcrowded, roads and infrastructure in disrepair, government services defunded, and local governments in debt and bankruptcy while millions of able workers sit idle is not just wrong, it's stupid.
Allowing the wealthy and powerful to go unpunished for their crimes, which often harm millions of people, while the poor are sent to prison for minor infractions is wrong and immoral.
Allowing corporations to go unpunished or merely fined for their crimes against nature is wrong and immoral.
Allowing a state of regulatory lawlessness where corporations set the rules is wrong and stupid.
Allowing the mass decimation of our manufacturing economy, where people actually produced things of value, so that political "contributors" could move their operations overseas where they wouldn't be burdened with the costs of compliance with labor laws, wage standards, and environmental protections, was not just wrong, it was traitorous.
Allowing that manufacturing economy to be replaced with a financial casino where people get rich quick by not producing anything of value at all was not just wrong, it was unconscionable.
Allowing our government functions to be contracted out to private corporations who have only the objective of maximizing profit at the expense of all other considerations was not just wrong, it was stupid as well.
And lastly, at least for now, allowing the idea that the invisible hand of the free market could govern our economy and our society better than the democratic governance our Founding Fathers entrusted this country to was wrong, stupid and immoral.
We progressives need to remember, as we watch the so-called centrists on Meet the Press or CNN, or read their columns in the establishment press, that our views are not extreme, radical or outside the mainstream. They never have been. We have been right all along, on issue after issue.
And we need to remember that our country, or its politics, is not like a bird. It does not have, or need, a left wing and a right wing. It just has a right wing, and a wrong wing.
And we Progressives need to remember that if it weren't for us, this country would be a wasteland already.