How The Middle Lost its Way:

The majority of Americans seem to be living in a political death spiral. Since the 2016 Presidential Elections, political discourse in the United States has been unable to ignore extreme talking points making their way to the main stream conversation and dominating the debate podium such that the average middle of the pack American is now hooked on a podcast, TV host or YouTube channel that they may not agree with entirely but cannot resist its polarization.

At first it seemed cathartic. Beaming us out of the pressures of political correctness into a frankness that left fragility for the birds. Unfortunately, this brash frankness only further divided the electorate. In trying to rein in previously tolerated cruelties, mild statements were over punished. In reaction, more cruelties were uttered which then skimped by for fear of another over-punishment. Donald Trump comes down an elevator saying the worst immigrants are coming over the border. In reaction, the proper way to call a person of Latin descent became LatinX. There arose an opportunity to ratify Roe vs Wade in honor of women’s right to choose. Instead women got encouraged to sell their bodies and welcome transgender women into their bathrooms. The moderately religious asked for the right to a Bible in schools and pray publicly and instead the religious institutions were instructed to honor Pride or worry about funding. Qualified and unemployed Americans asked that pressure be put on companies to keep their jobs stateside and we got Alligator Alcatraz.

It concerns me that perhaps Gen Alpha, Gen Z and perhaps some younger millennials cannot conceive of a political atmosphere that was not darting from one extreme to another for no practical reason other than to outdo their opponent in parlor tricks. Because of this public civility and basic human morality has been placed on the chopping block. By most accounts the happiest people in this country are well within reach – to the left or right – of the middle point on the issues of Immigration, Roe v Wade, LGBTQ Rights, Taxes and War. The YouTube platform is satiated with channels from people who have gone from one extreme to the next. Each leaving due to trying to maintain a value system that is just unsustainable. From former blue-haired lefties turned Christian, to trad-wives turned single mothers, to pro-Deportation to anti-Alcatraz. Spending enough time at either the extreme left or the extreme right leaves one with the eerie feeling that there is no compensation for a life spent in a death spiral.

It is one thing to want the rules regarding immigration to be applied. It is another thing entirely to have anyone of a certain demographic – citizen or not – to be considered a justifiable target for capture and incarceration without due process. It is one thing to want to help victims of sexual violence, forced incest and maternal endangerment to having vans outside a political conventions for abortions in a tight electoral race. It is one thing to be pro gay marriage for couples who want to experience legal protection and fiscal stability granted to heterosexual couples. It is another thing to introduce young kids to drag queen story hour. No one making $150K a year wants to pay more federal or even state taxes than necessary. No one who pays people to work for them at $150K a year wants to be forced to keep that rate on his payroll when he can get someone to do the same job for $75K a year either overseas or in an upcoming generation unless they are promised less taxes. And nowadays, no one likes war and if they do, they are not willing to be the first ones in line to fight.

However, moderation does not go viral and there is a huge conflation in what people say and do for engagement and what people live by. Unfortunately, our political campaigns are all about engagement whilst the moderate American majority suffers in silence.

by Julian Michael Yong.