You Don’t Seize the Center, You Create the Center

When I learned it, I thought the motion for this month’s Open to Debate formerly known as Intelligence Squared U.S. debate The GOP Must Seize the Center or Die was simply dreadful.  How could the opposing case possibly be made without fighting a losing battle with the proposition itself? Of course, the GOP needs to win more votes from the center, of course, they’ve been successfully characterized as out-of-touch with centrists.  Indeed, the pre-debate poll showed a staggering 65% in favor of the motion and only 14% opposed.  This lousy motion seemed certain to succeed.