Inaugural Post: The "Stepsister Effect" in American Politics
Can moderate activism come into its own?
Welcome to this inaugural edition of The Fearless Moderate U.S. national newsletter!
Hi. I’m Lisa Rogers, an American writer and activist for political moderation and national unity. I’ve written in other forums about what I call the “Stepsister Effect” in American politics…
Any time any issue becomes politicized in the U.S. two-party system, the process reminds me vividly of Cinderella’s dress being torn to pieces by her two rabidly entitled stepsisters—let’s call them Republicanna and Democrina. All they know is rivalry. Which pieces they grab hardly matters. Afterwards, each stepsister stalks away, jealously clutching her own prized fragments of the issue. And ne’er the twain shall meet again in partisan rhetoric.
Meanwhile, moderate Americans are left standing in the middle, assaulted, dressed in rags, afraid of drawing attention to themselves in a populist climate driven too much by culture war profiteering. Trying to restore any contentious issue to its full complexity often means being reviled or worse.
If average citizens want to do something about this, we need to do it in a world where not enough people know how (or even why) to diversify their news and commentary intake. We need to create a culture of greater circumspection, in part by promoting savvier, more responsible media consumption. The kind of empathy for one’s opponents that is prerequisite to objective thinking must be restored.
We, the moderate people, are the only voters with both the moral and pragmatic vision to fix this, never mind what trolls say about us being lukewarm. Let’s remind ourselves now that balancing moral values is different from lacking moral values. Taking time to form opinions is different from naivety. Diplomacy is different from people pleasing. And let’s give ourselves permission to correct anyone who suggests otherwise.
Our future will depend in part on all citizens becoming better versed in what both moderation and extremism entail from legal, psychological, and behavioral perspectives. The political science definition of moderation—having a balanced political outlook that’s supportive of social equity and resistant to extreme shifts toward either the left or right—is insufficient, alone, to guide a deeply biased, chronically misinformed, and disgruntled populace.
We must lift the discussion above stereotyping in a crisis atmosphere where ultimately, we’re all responsible. There can come a point in any debate when finger pointing, no matter how justified, is a myopic waste of precious time. We are all tethered together, sharing the same fate, regardless of who disappears first over the waterfall’s edge.
The tragedy is that our differences, even in politics, could be so much smaller if more Americans would simply prioritize the quest for common ground. (There’s land there? Who knew?)
Can American moderates rise, in all our boring and pragmatic glory to seize the spotlight? Can we organize ourselves, stand intrepidly, and ugly fight (metaphorically speaking) for the right to disagree amicably and—gasp!—achieve compromise and stability? Can we convince nations abroad the U.S. isn’t devolving into fish in a barrel? Can we convince our neighbors at home to trust each other more? I don’t know.
But if we can, it’s time.
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TFM is a U.S. national party-independent newsletter about bringing political moderates of all persuasions together so sanity, good will, and national unity can return into focus. It is the brainchild of American writer and activist Lisa Rogers.
We don’t have to agree on everything to agree on these things: United we stand. Divided we fall. And if moderation doesn’t act, extremism wins for sure.
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7/30/2022 update: A custom sharing button was added below the meme.