About
WHAT WE DO
Rise of the Center is a hybrid of a political blog, and mini blog stream. We’ll release some full length original blog posts, in the main column, but also a stream of many more short posts linking to content of interest for moderate / centrist and independent readers, posted on the sidebar.
If you come across any content that you believe should be seen on our site, please send it our way through the contact form and I’ll give it a look. This includes fully written posts, if you’ve written something that you think would fit into what we do here.
I *do* read comments… if I mess up, please tell me how. Especially if it is grammatical! I try to read over my posts, but I’m sure I’ll slip up.
Oh, and before you jump on me because some article I post a link to has something you don’t agree with… I don’t only post links to articles I agree with. I post links to articles I think are interesting and relevant. Unless I say I think something in particular, do not assume I support it.
OUR MISSION
Rise of the Center has been brought into being to debunk myths, fight back against extremists and track the evolution of the emerging rise of the center.
A cursory view of support of the two party system over the last few decades shows a steady move away from the two parties, as they have become more controlled by narrow special interests and have moved farther away from the majority of Americans who stand in the center of the political spectrum. But it wasn’t until more recently that those who consider themselves unrepresented, or underrepresented, began to coalesce into a political force in some areas.
While some may call this a movement, it is still most definitely too early to reasonably call it such. A more accurate description would be to call it a groundswell of moderate republicans and democrats, and centrist independents.
Instead of adapting to an increasingly disappointed public by actually listening to them, the two major parties have turned up the dial on the very things that are pushing the American people away from them. It seems all we have to do anymore is wait a few months to see a new bar set on hyperpartisan gamesmanship, absurd dirty campaigning, ethical breaches and blatant pandering to the narrow special interests that own the Democratic and Republican parties.
As if this wasn’t bad enough, their standard response to those who point out that they are losing the support of the core of the American electorate is that these people really are just wishy washy Democrats or Republicans that just wont admit it to themselves… which is made even more ridiculous in the face of many years of so called RINO (Republican In Name Only) & DINO (Democrat In Name Only) hunting that has pushed out most of the moderates in the House and Senate, leaving the parties farther apart, more ideologically extreme and more disconnected from the core of the American electorate than they may have ever been.
How do they get away with both pushing moderates and centrists out, while claiming that these same people are really just one of them, but in denial?
I could point fingers in a multitude of directions to explain this, but what it really comes down to is we have failed ourselves. Sure, the media often eats up the partisan talking points, hook line and sinker, and sure, the two major parties use their megaphones to drown out our voices… but in a Democracy, the peoples’ job is to speak for themselves. Blaming others really just amounts to a self defeating attitude that doesn’t help our cause one bit.
The groundswell is breaking through, in the form of grassroots groups all over the country, political nonprofit organizations, fledgling political parties and some political parties that are beginning to wield significant political power in places like Oregon and New York. Voices of moderation are gaining a following in the political blogosphere, new thought leaders are bubbling up amongst the ranks of columnists and authors, and independent faces are showing up on television news. Perhaps the most telling that this groundswell is nearing a potential breakthrough into a full fledged movement is the increasing numbers of viable candidates running for offices, up and down the ballot, across the country.
Here at Rise of the Center, we’ll cover all of these things, show the partisan hacks that middle is anything but mushy and to encourage community among the centrist, moderate and independent thinking electorate.
I hope you enjoy it, and are enriched by its content.
Thanks for reading,
Solomon Kleinsmith
Thanks for making this site, give me hope for the future
Someone noticed that I added comments to the pages a few days ago! haha
This is my insane passion… Couldn't be happier to be of service. Hope you come back and are educated and inspired to take action in whatever way your heart points you in.
Awesome site – I love it
Appreciate the props!
Cool site. There is also a new organization out there, No Labels, that is trying to start a citizen movement to get the two sides to stop the partisan hackery and start getting things done.
http://nolabels.org/
I’ve been aware of them for a few months, and am a big fan. I’ll be live blogging from their launch next month :)
Oh nice! I actually was just told about it by one of the people that work there. Will be going as well.
Nice… we'll have to have a little moderate/centrist blogger pow wow while out there, haha. I think two other bloggers I know will be there too.
Sir, It seems your site has creeped it's pragmatic little self into my morning reading good job,
Excellent! Glad you like what we're doing here. Don't forget to share with any like minded friends :)
I recommend you guys sell some logo t-shirts. This concept is LOOOONG overdue. Can't I vote with common sense? Why can't everyone?
TOTALLY with you. I'm working on a redesign of the site logo/banner up top, and will for sure put up something on CafePress or a similar site after I do that. Right now the banner really is just our name laid out in a nice way… I've got a better idea that'll look much better. This site is a work in progress, and I'm not all that awesome at graphic design :)
I've also thought about shirts, and other stuff, with one liners on them. I was thinking that I'd put out a call for people to submit ideas actually.
I should be able to get the logo tweaked to my satisfaction by the end of the month. It'll look really good on a shirt I think.
Thanks for creating such a site and for following me on twitter. I am enjoying all the info presented on the site so far. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for the props. We'll try to keep it interesting for ya! Some extra cool stuff coming down the pipe…
Hit up the subscribe link up top for the other ways you can keep track of what is going on here… email, RSS & Facebook too.
This sounds good, but have learned to be skeptical — please don't be offended, but must ask:
Is this the "tea party" disguised to appeal to people like me, and trick us?
(of course if you're trying to trick me, you're not going to TELL me, are you?! —
however —
have no power so will just ask anyway…
I responded to your email on this earlier, but how about you judge the site based on the content and decide for yourself? I\’m a pretty hard core centrist independent, not a Tea Party independent that is such because the republican party isn\’t conservative enough for me, or am a libertarian. But again, don\’t take my word for it, keep reading and/or read back through posts, and you\’ll find the contributors here are all moderates and centrists.
Hahaha, you sure don't understand "Tea Party members, Libertarians, Conservatives" if you think they like this site… matter of fact I hear the exact opposite from them on a near daily basis, that this site is some kind of liberal site pretending to be centrist.
You right and left wingers certainly do love your conspiracy theories doncha?
This is fantastic! I hope this continues to gain momentum!
Appreciate the props.
Share with your friends to help! :)
Solomon, I concur with all the previous voices that this forum is long overdue. I’m the author of the “balanced peacemaking from a Navy SEAL” blog at http://PowerfulPeace.net and the forthcoming book of the same name.
At the site I often describe myself as “apolitical.” There are two reasons for this. On one hand it helps keep the focus where it belongs, on reducing conflict as the best way to protect innocents and diminish the ravages of war.
An unfortunate second reason for being “apolitical” is that there simply hasn’t been any other outlet for those of us who hate the destructive power of partisanship over responsible decision making.
It’s just possible that this Centrist movement can give many of us a gathering place. That would be a great thing for this country, and by extension this troubled world.
Thanks for taking the lead.
- Rob
PS: I’m also accused of being a liberal by conservatives, and a conservative by liberals. That’s probably a good indicator we’re on a balanced path.
I just thought you might be interested in following the Bipartisan Policy Center– it’s at http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/
I think Centrists know it best, that there is too little compromise and too much incivility in today’s politics.
They also have a blog there.
Yeah, I’ve been following them for some time by RSS. Sort of like a think tank.
Solomon, I’m not sure you’re familiar with this blog– it’s called The Civil Political. Yesterday, it posted “Five questions. Five minutes (video). Fed. Debt Ceiling.”– http://thecivilpolitical.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/five-questions-five-minutes-fed-debt-ceiling/
It’s the start of a new discussion on the debt ceiling crisis; thought you or your visitors might be interested in contributing.
I’m actually VERY familiar :) Anne-Marie just agreed to start cross posting content on here just in the last few weeks. That post will probably be up in a day or two.
We have been around in Australia since 1994. Our aim is to lift the standards of political debate here too. Great to see a likeminded site
Well met :)