The middle 80% keep us centered

On Nov. 18, one writer’s letter spelled out all of President-elect Trump’s negative attributes and stated that he was elected “in spite of all that.” When President Biden was elected he drew negative “mental fitness” observations and comments and was elected “in spite of all that” also.

Might I suggest that there are obviously some extremely intelligent people in both parties and as such neither side can possibly be the ones who are 100% right in all of their political opinions. The problem is that since the Country is pretty much evenly split at 50/50, politicians can ill afford to ignore the rabid 10% who are furthest left or furthest right because if they lose that support, t they can’t possibly win election. Weak politicians feel the need to walk a tightrope often supporting beliefs that they themselves don’t necessarily have, out of political fear.

It is this 10% on either side who are causing the lion’s share of the discourse in the country and making the rest of our lives miserable from a political point of view. The folks in those 10% extremes, sadly, are the people who let politics interfere with family, and/or friend, relationships which only goes to show how extreme they really are.

Thankfully, as has happened repeatedly over the past 240 years, when things get “too far left” or “too far right,” the voters comprising the middle 80% have a way of bringing us back closer to center because most Americans are, just that, closer to center than the “news” organizations would encourage us to believe. Those of us closer to center tend to keep a more open mind and make sense of arguments from both sides, because again, neither side can always be right.

Craig Casino

Winfield