My name is thatoneguyinslc, and i'm in the ANGRY MIDDLE!

Touché indeed!!!

I too could be defined as the angry middle... It's like having a serbian mother and a croation father, waking up in the morning and wanting to hit myself!!!!

BAM!!!

Count me in! I couldn't agree more.

Another insightful for you One Guy!
If you have read my stuff you know I really don't like any politicians!

I am Angry middle all the way!

Thank you! I dont feel so alone anymore!

I'm an Indepentent myself and regularly vote both parties.

But I think many people have jumped deep into the parties this time because we are stuck with only two choices. Then you must pick our horse that we think are the lesser of the two evils. Then ride the horse into the ground weather we want to or not.

Goerge Washington once believed the worse thing that happened during his time as President, was the formation of political partys. I completely argee.

I suppose being being a libertarian I could consider myself in the "radical middle", combining ideas from the far left and far right. I really don't see how you don't have a voice though... your vote counts as much as anyone's, except people in states that have fewer electoral votes, where the votes of their citizens count more (because the two votes for the senators are distributed among fewer people).

I see one problem with your posts though- you don't define what you mean. For example, you say that you believe in the constitution and bill of rights, but does that mean that you support full removal of the partiot act? I think a lot in the middle accept the patriot act, even if you personally don't.

You also don't define what "absolutely needed" means- repubs and dems both believe in what you said, but define "absolutely needed" differently.

when you talk about "fair wages" and "affordable healthcare", both dems and repubs believe in it too. Dems consider giving unions unreasonable power and increasing minimum wage "fair wages", while repubs would consider "fair wages" to mean reducing the amount of people eligible for overtime and undermining unions. Also, dems and republicans both believe in affordable healthcare, and depending on who's funding their campaigns they either believe in government subsidization or tort reform and legal liability reductions.

I support a total removal of the Patriot Act and replacing it with SANE and reasonable laws that protect us from terror and protect our rights at the same time.

Fair wages are fair wages for the common man. I give a rats ass about the rich, as they give about me. Not every repub is rich, and not every dem is poor.

I don't care how health care drops its costs. As long as its done and doesn't place a burden on the poor or middle class.

Absolutely needed means when there is a direct threat to the people of the US. Not based on bad second hand intelligence.. Think AFGHANISTAN instead of IRAQ.

I love how you tried to make this a dissertation/dissection without realizing that my post was about the common beliefs of those on the middle, regardless of political party. My point is that nowadays with all the fingerpointing, labeling and all the other BS that is turning our whole political process into a big joke, the common man is not getting noticed. My declaration is this. That i am sick of the bullshit, and i want to know if there are others who feel the same way.

And you can be as radical as you like. I'm not radical. I'm ANGRY. Angry that people try to say i'm something im not, angry that people want to get upset with me for being a conscience voter, angry that our government no longer listens to its people, angry for the state of my country, and angry that people like you want to pick apart anything people like me say so you can justify what you are.

Well said! I just can't understand voting according to label, democrat must vote democrat, no question. And it drives me up the wall when people are one issue voters. I know way too many women who vote based on the candidates' stand on abortion.
Angry middle? this sounds like the perfect description of the educated voter who can actually think for themselves. Nice article, I am with you on this.

Wow, good to see others feel the same way. I always suspected there were lots of us out there. I wrote a blog on this a while back I think I called "A Man without a Party" or some such drivel. My biggest hope as a member of the Angry Middle is that whoever is elected as the next president will remember they shouldn't represent Democrats or Republicans. They should represent Americans.

Everybody likes to think that they're in the middle and that their views are the ones supported by the majority (or if they have a martyr complex, opposed by the majority).

My beliefs are definately in the "middle of the road"

George Washington once believed the worse thing that happened during his time as President, was the formation of political partys. I completely argee.

I think if the founding fathers were around today, they would start another revolution!

If they ever write another Constitution, I want to see you there at the table!

I doubt they would let me in the door...But ya never know!

Thanks Anne

4. A strong national defense and the ability to use the power wisely and only when absolutely needed.

Does this mean you opposed the Kosovo intervention? Should we send troops to Sudan?

How do you acheive 8 and 9 without violating 5 and 10?

Large Social programs, low taxes, low/no deficit. Pick 2.

I agree that the majority of Americans truly feel that neither candidate really represents them.  That is why I have said how depressed I am that these are our choices.  I have never understood why anyone would vote strictly one party or another.  I think most people have a pet issue or two that they base their decision on.  I think whoever gets voted in this time will be under record amounts of scrutiny.

Great article and I agree completely about the founding fathers starting another revolution!!!

Madine,

I was totally for Kosovo. My guy Wesley Clark did it right! (damn Wes....maybe in 4 more years)

Sudan? Let the UN handle it...Were kinda busy at the moment.

I didn't say that the public should foot the bill for affordable insurance, but i do think we should do something about schools. Educating the kids is an investment in our future!

And it is possible to pay for social programs without raising taxes. Too bad we killed the surplus with all those $300.00 checks that put us in a smoldering hole. Thanks George!

Do you think our intervention in Kosovo was absolutely needed? The UN isn't going to do anything about Sudan unless we take the lead.

The surplus existed because of tax receipts generated from an unsustainable bubble. Right now, at our current rate of taxation and spending, we have a deficit. In order to get rid of the deficit, we either need to raise taxes or decrease spending. Which do you want to do?

If the public doesn't pay for insurance, how do we make it affordable?

We change the medical malpracitce laws so that good doctors dont get sued as much and their insurance rates go down.

We force the drug companies to lower prices. You really think it costs 4.00 to make a pill? More like 75 cents.

We stop giving non profit tax breaks to heathcare groups that are clearly NOT non profit. Tax the bastards.

That will generate a lot of $$$

Kosovo was definately worth the lives that were saved. 3 million live muslims is a good thing .....right?

I would support a mission in Sudan if we were not stretched as thin as we are because of Bush 2.0's stupid little war in Iraq. it should have been done in 1990. Right now hes just cleaning up daddys mess the way i see it.

Cut frivilous spending, especially the military. Its obvious that we cannot cut funds for the war, but there is a lot of pork that can be cut. And a shitload of pork in other departments as well.

Stop giving the rich tax cuts. institute a flat tax.

And the bubble may have burst, but handing out checks made it 10 times worse than it would have been if we still had that $$$ in the federal coffers. Then after the recovery, (which still hasn't happened) we could talk about tax refunds.

Anything else Madine?

Before I get to my main point : Instituting a flat tax would actually be the biggest tax break to the rich that you could give. We have a graduated tax system where the rich, in fact pay most of the taxes in this country even after that evil Bush gave them some extra perks.

Looking at the original post I would say that the author is, in fact, a good deal to the left of the actual middle. However the point that is made is extremely valid that I think deserves a harder look. To be a member of the "angry middle" i don't believe that you need to actually be in the middle. I am a registered Republican, with a fairly liberal (in the classical sense) view of things such as civil rights, the environment etc...
I think the definition of the angry middle should include all of us who reject the polarity and partisanship that has characterised our politics lately. I think our nation has suffered from an ever louder chorus of extremists and idiots from both ends of the political spectrum that tend to drown out any attempt at reasonable discussion. Both ends of this diatribe are a danger to all of us because they believe that their goals are more important than the consensus that keeps us together. We need to strongly inform our leaders that keeping the ideals and strengths that have made us what we are is much more important than their increasingly more transparent power games.

Uhm...Don't assume that you know what my position is, considering those points were from CNN, not me. I agree with them in principle. In practice is something that would need work.

And the flat tax is the most equitable taxation method for everybody.

Kosovo was definately worth the lives that were saved. 3 million live muslims is a good thing .....right?

What about the lives that were saved by deposing Hussein? Remember, a healthy number of Iraqis were dying under Hussein's regime. Even if that wasn't the reason for going to war, it is a benefit, right?

By the way, does the "middle" actually support the US policing the world?

Looking at the original post I would say that the author is, in fact, a good deal to the left of the actual middle. However the point that is made is extremely valid that I think deserves a harder look. To be a member of the "angry middle" i don't believe that you need to actually be in the middle. I am a registered Republican, with a fairly liberal (in the classical sense) view of things such as civil rights, the environment etc...

That's exactly what I'm seeing. Sure, when compared with the extremes, we're all in the middle, but everybody is askew. Hell, I have some beliefs that are quite liberal, but overall, I think I lean to the right.

Also, I'd like to see some evidence that the majority of people support such views, and to what extent. It sounds as though people are simply saying: "My beliefs are the majority because by believing that, I feel they are stronger than yours."

The interesting thing is, the Libertarian Party could fairly be described as the angry middle, as cwarsh mentioned. The part of our platform that loses its appeal to some of the angry middle is in believing that things like health care and education should be privatized. But since the master plan of the LP explains how to do such things fairly, it's not as extreme as it sounds.