Re: Centristism (was: Edward Herman, Brad Delong and Noam Chomsky)

[Jurriaan Bendien <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael P.,

I don't know anything about Brad DeLong, but what is the difference between
"centristism" and "centrism" anyhow ? Traditionally, socialist centrism
means oscillating between revolutionary (radical) and reformist positions,
seeking to occupy an intermediate political space; bourgeois centrism means
a middle position between social-democratic Left and liberal or conservative
Right, which, if the political spectrum shifts to the Right, might mean a
middle position between liberalism and conservativism, i.e. the definitions
are contingent on the balance of class forces.

Personally I would regard myself as "centrist" in some sense as well (apart
from rejecting a lot of the dualisms and dichotomies radicals traditionally
project to typecast people and situations, I just cannot get my life
together here as I would like, at present). And I do live in a sort of "no
man's land" by virtue of opting out of having many social contacts for now.

J.