Americans Are Not Seeking Out Middle Ground
A Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Sen. Mitt Romney regarding the demise of the No Labels political party initiative tells us as much about Romney, and why he failed to ever become a national leader, as it does about the failure of the No Labels effort.
No Labels defined its mission "to support centrism and bipartisanship."
Romney defines this effort as seeking out the "sensible middle voices" in American politics.
My view is that No Labels failed because of its very incorrect assumption that what Americans seek is a so-called middle ground, or even that a middle ground exists, on issues that most trouble the nation today.
No Labels was wrong in its assessment of what the nation wants and needs, and Romney is wrong.
Former President Richard Nixon once observed that many make the mistake of thinking that conflict is the result of misunderstanding rather than difference of belief.
When America split and descended into civil war in the 1850s and1860s, it was not because of the failure of sensible middle voices to emerge.
It was because there were many in the country who believed that slavery was not only OK but desirable. It was because some believed that Black Africans who were enslaved were not even human beings.
Where is the middle ground, the "sensible middle voices," on slavery?
Slavery was not about misunderstanding or lack of communication. It was about conflict between very different sets of beliefs.
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