Centrism and Nuance

Michael Totten has a good post in response to one from James Wolcott going after liberals who supported the war in Iraq. The key paragraph:

"Politics isn’t binary, James. It’s not a war between the white hats and the black hats -- or the blue hats and the red hats for that matter. Tens of millions of Americans answer with "neither" when asked if they consider themselves liberal or conservative. Some of us vote for third parties. Some of us vote for both of the two major parties at the same time. It’s about tough choices and lesser evilism. If you’re a liberal I suppose the choice is an easy one. Some of us non-liberals see nuance and shades of gray. Maybe you've heard of those things."

Totten is right, of course. There is nuance and shades of gray in just about every issue we centrists consider, and there are those on both the left and right who refuse to accept that non-binary nature of political discourse. Our duty as centrists is to defend our nuanced positions from those on both sides who refuse to see the gradations, and to help those in the political middle find a place for their concerns and their own nuances. If we don't do that, no one will.