Remember the decades we were told you had to run to the center to win?
Yeah it was always lies.
this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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Yeah it was always lies.
It wasn't always lies. The game changed when the other side started electing their extremists, but worse, those more in the center have done fuck-all with what power they do have to act as a check on those other elected extremists.
I think the reason progressives are winning now is that voters have nothing to lose. Far right extremists will fuck them. Most of those closest to the center won't help them, and there's now a precedent of voting in extremists (currently far right) into high office.
If anything I think the elected far right extremists were the best argument for voting for those farther left. There's also the Overton window. 2008's Obama championing the ACA and the 2015 Supreme Court's Obergefell decision looks quite progressive compared to today's centerists.
Running to the center is why fascism arrived, and Democrats have been espousing it as a strategy since the 80's, while Democrats as a brand have basically given up on the concept that government can be a force for good in peoples lives.
Both Republicans and Democrats would run to the center for success. Bush Senior and Bush Junior were also centrist. It wasn't just a Democrat thing.