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Perhaps the favorite Versailles trope is that of "extremists on both sides", which was deployed yet again, recently, to try to dismiss the fact that rightwing incitements to violence are so omnipresent in various different forms. But the reality is that the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party--and a good number of folks outside the party altogether--represents the true moderate center at a much more fundamental level than anyone else on the scene.
The reason for this is simple and straightforward: we represent social democracy, the political philosophy best reflected in America by the New Deal and the Great Society, suport for whose programs remains strong, deep and broad--all across the political spectrum--even despite a virtual blackout of expressed political support from anyone in the political establishment except when real showdowns occur and tremendous pressure is brought to bear.
But just because we represent the silenced majority does that mean we're in the center? How does that work? Glad you asked. This was explained by Benjamin Barber in a number of different books, in slightly different, but clearly related terms.
To put it simply, there are three different models of civil society or social organization that are contesting in the world today. In Jihad vs. McWorld, Barber named two of them "Jihad" and "McWorld"--the former indicating religious/ethno-nationalism (or even sub-nationalism) and the later indicating materialist/consumerist neo-liberalism. Jihad and McWorld are bitter enemies, Barber argued, and yet at the same time they feed off of one another and both work against a common enemy: social democracy and its natural home in the nation-state.
In terms of civil society, as described in A Place For Us, McWorld is reflected in the libertarian vision, with its thin, impoverished vision in which there are few, if any institutions, only people and their "voluntary associations", of which the most powerful may well be corporations. OTOH, Jihad is reflected in the social conservative vision, where civil society is overwhelmed with traditional organizations, such as the church, and various different traditional organizations established to amplify status quo power structures. The social democratic viion of civil society differs from both these extremes, in that it provides space and encourgement for people to creat new organizations--from the casual to the institutional--to meet share social needs that are not and/or cannot be met by existing structures, be they governmental, private of part of the existing sphere of civil society.
Both these schemas share an underlying logic: on the one had there is a pre-determined social order, into which individuals must simply fit in, on the other hand is a chaotic economic order, with no true social dimension to it all. In the middle is the only true social order in which individuals retain and even have the means to amplify their own individuality and autonomy in dynamic interplay with others.
Extremists on one side--the religious right, cultural conervatives, Tea Baggers, etc. in this country--try to suppress us from creating new forms to challenge the old ones, particularly new forms that cross old boundaries, build new bridges, make new connections, and affirm new commonalities. They are, in their own estimation, the sole defenders of the true natural order and divine will.
Extremists on the other side--the libertarians, neo-liberals, corporate special intersts and oligopolies--try to suppress us from any form of solidarity in forming organizations, formal or informal, that allow us to go beyond the atomization of individual thoughts, actions and desires that make us easy prey for the market manipulations that are their stand-in for divine will.
We stand between these two extremes, defending both individual autonomy and social solidarity that helps secure the foundations for such autonomy to flourish. WE are the moderates, the solid, empirically grounded firmament on which democratic government and social progress is built, and the political center between the two ideological extremes that are built upon impoverished notions of what it means to be human.
And we are fighting, now more than ever, for the preservation and advancement of human civilization, including, but not limited to, the great achievements of our nation, and promise of completing the task of redressing past wrongs and perfecting our union.
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