The Middle of the Road

Its occupants have shifted somewhat!
by Charlie Leck [12 May 2007]

An old friend is dismayed that he can’t get me to accompany him in the middle of the road. I want to tell him that it’s a dangerous place because of the intense traffic; however, I have to admit I am now more in the middle of the road than he is. He doesn’t understand that. Times have shifted our relative positions.

Those who were formerly a bit left, or further left, have now been shifted toward the center just solely based on national opinion polls. Those to the right, who used to occupy the center, have now been shifted further to the right, over on to the shoulder of the road actually.

The current, hard-core middle-of-the-roader is the guy who opposes the war and thinks the Bush administration is a bit daft. Way over 50% of Americans no longer trust their President and they believe he will bend the truth to serve his policies. This 50+ percent of the people are now the ones clogging up the middle of the road. The people out there in the center also want to know why so many favors have been bestowed on the incredibly wealthy during the last six years. They want to know why health care costs have risen so dramatically in the last half-dozen years and why the profits of drug companies and health provider companies have risen so astronomically. They want to know why our national budget deficits are so out of control. And why are quality of life indicators sinking. Why is education so costly and why are education results so bad? Why is the middle class so neglected? Why does poverty persist? Why are so many people losing their homes to the mortgage lending scoundrels? And most of all, we in the middle of the road want to know why someone isn’t doing something about this awful, miserable and stupid war.

That is a report from the middle of the road, my friends. .