I am a deep thinker. I always have been. It's something that is ingrained in my mind and spirit, and in our modern age of politics, it is something that is almost omniscient in me. Almost every issue that we talk about today leads to controversy and conflict between the left and the right, and it doesn't help in the slightest that both sides have adopted a few extreme ideas and have shifted into a mode of conquest. The Republicans must beat the Democrats or the Democrats must beat the Republicans. There is no room for dialogue or compromise. It's one way or the other.
To me, this is the most alarming problem in our day and age. Our politicians have seemingly abandoned any premise of working together, and that is detrimental to our democracy. However, I must clarify that I do think that one side is more to blame than the other. The wing of the Republican party in support of Donald Trump was the originator of this idea of "us against them," but the left has adopted this attitude as well. Leaders such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have capitalized, not maliciously intended, on the rise of identity politics and the rise of Trump to foster an attitude of "us against them" as well. There are many on the left who will not listen to any conservative or moderate argument and will shut down discussion with zealotry, condemning anyone to the right of them as being discriminatory or prejudiced without even listening to what is being said.
The right is no less guilty. It is overrun with conspiracy theories, xenophobia, and a contradictory love of free trade but somehow also tariffs. Our situation is a melting pot of consequence and cause that is the fault of multiple sides, not any one entity. The extreme left refuses to listen to anything which causes frustration among the center and right, which causes the extreme right to rise which causes the extreme left to bolster their positions, declaring war in response to the right. It is a never-ending cycle of political war and conquest.
There is no way to escape it, save one, in my opinion. The center of our politics must be reignited and reconcile the differences between the right and left in order to bring about a more civil environment for legislation, dialogue, and compromise. We must take the path of the Third Way again.
Tony Blair, British Prime Minister from 1997- 2007, was among the first advocates of the Third Way, a philosophy that was meant to reconcile the differences between the right and left wings of politics, mixing center left and center right economic policies with center-left social policies with the goal of party compromise and dialogue. Neither socialism nor capitalism, neither authoritarian nor libertarian, the Third Way is meant to appeal to all in the name of liberty.
Blair brought significant economic prosperity and social change to the UK. He oversaw the legalization of same-sex unions and transformed the Labour platform to accept more market solutions and privatization in the economy. David Cameron, the next PM after Gordon Brown, kept Blair as an informal adviser, speaking to his skill in bridging the gap between the Conservative and Labour parties. He left the economy in good shape, but his biggest mistake was engaging in the Iraq War, which, unfortunately, has become the biggest mark of his legacy as PM. No leader is perfect, but in examining a holistic view of Blair's policies, I believe that he did quite a top job.
His success and the success of other adopters of the Third Way has had a profound impact on me. I believe in humanity, and I firmly believe that we must talk to each other with open minds and open hearts so that we can understand all positions, even the worst of the worst, so that we can make them better, moral, and more knowledgeable. The core tenants of the Third Way speak truth to this philosophy, and I truly believe that it can be applied and it can make the world better. Only through kindness and understanding can we achieve greatness and change.
We need another figure like Tony Blair in politics, one who can build bridges between parties and foster dialogue between our extremes by appealing to the center. We cannot advance in any sustainable way unless we understand all perspectives and all walks of life. Only by allowing dialogue and cooperation between factions can we truly escape this cesspool of politics that we all find ourselves in.
