What is CenteredPolitics
By Sheri Rivlin and Allan Rivlin, Editors, CenteredPolitics.com
CenteredPolitics.com is a website for calm and respectful discourse about public policy and politics. We believe it is unique more for its tone than for its political perspective. Co-Editors Sheri Rivlin and Allan Rivlin launched the site in 2008 because we could not find anything else like it on the World Wide Web and we invite others to help us expand the discussion.
The underlying emotion of most American political websites we have encountered is anger. Bomb throwers on the left and right will tell you that the other side is insane, corrupt, and truly un-American. Events of the past 45-minutes always seem to prove what the site has been saying all along, that the sky really is falling, that these guys (or those guys) really must be stopped.
These sites have their value, but we are pleased to offer an alternative.
What we believe:
CenteredPolitics.com is based on the belief that the issues are too complex for one side to be completely right or completely wrong. We believe that the controversy of the moment is often a distraction from the most important challenges we are facing. We believe that it is far easier to tear down the other side than it is to build toward consensus for effective public policy. CenteredPolics.com is willing to take on the far more difficult task of listening to a wide range of voices, engaging issues in all their complexity, and drawing our readers' attention to those things that we believe are most worthy of their attention.
"Centered" not "Centrist"
The Editors of CenteredPolitics.com should not be mistaken for centrists. Our politics and lifestyle are really quite progressive, and this actually helps define our distaste for the typical communication style of many voices on the left and the right. After a couple of hours of yoga or meditation, we are not of a mind to scream insults at our political opponents. Because we are progressive, we think there should be an Internet site that is more about progress.
The passion of the far left and the far right is to be admired, but the contemptuous tone and the mocking intolerance for other points of view are out of harmony with our values. We read in our Tao Te Ching, "If you blame someone else, there is no end to the blame" and view this as a fair description of most American political websites. We can't promise to eliminate all blame from this website but we can try, and less blaming and name calling leaves room for so much more.
At CenteredPolitics.com we hope you will find:
· A willingness to look squarely at problems, however inconvenient or challenging to our prior points of view.
· Explorations of the deeper causes of an issue beyond the political spin to understand the root structure of competing interests.
· Thoughtful discussion of alternative solutions with an openness to both strengths and weaknesses of potential courses of action.
· Broader discussions of the interconnected nature of the decisions we make, our belief systems, and lifestyle choices.
Our CenteredPolitics original articles, republished content from other publications, and the articles from other websites we collect in The Box may not all come from the same perspective, but in each case we will seek to draw our readers' attention to voices that reflect the CenteredPolitics values of thoughtful, balanced, and respectful discourse.
CenteredPolitics.com is a website for calm and respectful discourse about public policy and politics. We believe it is unique more for its tone than for its political perspective. Co-Editors Sheri Rivlin and Allan Rivlin launched the site in 2008 because we could not find anything else like it on the World Wide Web and we invite others to help us expand the discussion.
The underlying emotion of most American political websites we have encountered is anger. Bomb throwers on the left and right will tell you that the other side is insane, corrupt, and truly un-American. Events of the past 45-minutes always seem to prove what the site has been saying all along, that the sky really is falling, that these guys (or those guys) really must be stopped.
These sites have their value, but we are pleased to offer an alternative.
What we believe:
CenteredPolitics.com is based on the belief that the issues are too complex for one side to be completely right or completely wrong. We believe that the controversy of the moment is often a distraction from the most important challenges we are facing. We believe that it is far easier to tear down the other side than it is to build toward consensus for effective public policy. CenteredPolics.com is willing to take on the far more difficult task of listening to a wide range of voices, engaging issues in all their complexity, and drawing our readers' attention to those things that we believe are most worthy of their attention.
"Centered" not "Centrist"
The Editors of CenteredPolitics.com should not be mistaken for centrists. Our politics and lifestyle are really quite progressive, and this actually helps define our distaste for the typical communication style of many voices on the left and the right. After a couple of hours of yoga or meditation, we are not of a mind to scream insults at our political opponents. Because we are progressive, we think there should be an Internet site that is more about progress.
The passion of the far left and the far right is to be admired, but the contemptuous tone and the mocking intolerance for other points of view are out of harmony with our values. We read in our Tao Te Ching, "If you blame someone else, there is no end to the blame" and view this as a fair description of most American political websites. We can't promise to eliminate all blame from this website but we can try, and less blaming and name calling leaves room for so much more.
At CenteredPolitics.com we hope you will find:
· A willingness to look squarely at problems, however inconvenient or challenging to our prior points of view.
· Explorations of the deeper causes of an issue beyond the political spin to understand the root structure of competing interests.
· Thoughtful discussion of alternative solutions with an openness to both strengths and weaknesses of potential courses of action.
· Broader discussions of the interconnected nature of the decisions we make, our belief systems, and lifestyle choices.
Our CenteredPolitics original articles, republished content from other publications, and the articles from other websites we collect in The Box may not all come from the same perspective, but in each case we will seek to draw our readers' attention to voices that reflect the CenteredPolitics values of thoughtful, balanced, and respectful discourse.
Who We Are:
Jim Jaffe, a former Congressional staffer who worked on economic, tax and health issues, writes from Washington.
Allan Rivlin was a senior advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Clinton Administration. Allan is a partner with the Democratic polling and strategy firm of Peter D. Hart Research Associates. For five years Allan wrote the Poll Position column for The National Journal and TheNationalJournal.com.
Sheri Rivlin has a B.A. in Psychology from Boston University and is a graduate of the Washington College of Law.
Allan and Sheri, and Jim blog at The Huffington Post.
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What is Centered Politics?
CenteredPolitics.com is a website for calm and respectful discourse about public policy and politics. We believe it is unique more for its tone than for its political perspective.
Read More
CenteredPolitics.com is a website for calm and respectful discourse about public policy and politics. We believe it is unique more for its tone than for its political perspective.
Read More
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