The New Radical Centrist
Fri Jan 09 2026
This is an expanded episode of an essay i’ve recently written about how we need to radically rethink our idea of a centrist…one that needs to meet a completely new criteria…the center needs to hold the positions that a majority of Americans support. Radical idea I know.
And currently, what is considered…“the center” does not meet this simple criteria. The current ideas of the “center” are radical brain rotted freaks. They are not serious people and should be treated as such.
Our current center believes profit is the ultimate ego ideal to strive for…they wish to strip your humanity from every purchase you make.
The irrational centrist holds profit as their first principle…in both the economic sense and the moral sense. We see this in the “not really political” influencers who define success through preselected goals: more cars, more crypto rug pulls, and a narcissistic drive to be seen “winning”. This is the “self-optimized narcissist” in action, a figure obsessed with an unachievable ego ideal.
As Todd McGowan notes, the foundation of the capitalist structure is the promise of the future. We buy commodities to discover satisfaction, accumulate capital to “one day” have enough, and speed up distribution for future profit. This manufactured hope is sold back to us as progress, yet it is built on the false premise that satisfaction is always just one purchase away.
Does it currently feel like the better tomorrow is coming?
Our modern governance has transitioned from democratic deliberation to technocratic management. Digital platforms have eaten away at our minds, leaving behind conceptual ghosts and transactions. Our smartphones are no longer tools…they shape how we think and what we desire. We have entered a stage of "manufactured narcissism," where our public and private selves become indistinguishable as we perform roles scripted by the machine of fame and profit.
Your average normie influencer does ad reads for another dog water company and we don’t even blink an eye. If they want to be influencers, we should be holding their feet directly in the fire when they are lazy profit hungry fools. Why do they get a pass?
The current center facilitates a narcissistic fantasy where we no longer view ourselves as distinct from the objects we consume… instead, we are pushed into a capitalistic based fragmentation where our own consumption becomes a rotted form of self-reification. This creates a smokescreen that prevents us from understanding what we truly desire or what a healthy politics looks like.
The current “Enlightened Centrist” (EC) is often just someone who is mentally tired and lazy (CC Lex Fridman as the perfrect example of sounding lazy and thinking lazy). They are tired of ideological purity tests, so they adopt “centrism” as a brand to mask their complicity. They preach a “pathological optimism” that masks the smell of a decaying status quo.
A true centrist position must be an ideological inversion based on material reality. Consider the data:
* Bipartisan Support: 67% of Americans support a Billionaire income tax, and over 60% support a wealth tax.
* Healthcare Priority: 72% of voters support “radical” measures to lower healthcare costs and reduce the role of insurance middlemen.
* Red State Realism: In 2024, deep-red states like Missouri and Alaska voted to raise the minimum wage and mandate paid sick leave.
These voters aren’t “radical extremists”…they are working people who recognize that the status quo is irrational. Their “mistrust” is not a “doomer” mindset—it is a rational observation of a system where working full-time no longer guarantees stable housing or family milestones.
The average American is grounded in reality. The elites? Are radical brain rotted fools that should be treated as such.
And the irrational center tells us that universal healthcare and living wages are expensive fantasies. Meanwhile, “techno-utopians” like Sam Altman sell a delusional vision of an AI-driven future of abundance to obscure the current material rot of energy depletion and rising costs.
They are promising you a better tomorrow while stealing everything from you today. How do we treat frauds? Do we give them another bail out? Or should we be operating more rationally?
I think we should be prosecuting them for their lack of competence and fraudulent lies. It’s that simple.
The true center must step back into the “grey zone” of reality. It refuses to lie to itself about what the system is. It recognizes that “hope” has become a consumer product designed to distract us from the harsh truth of our material predicament.
We must stop allowing media influencers to act as highly paid PR firms for power. A rational middle ground should operate with principles of moderation and compromise, but it must reject the binary of left and right, which serves as a controlled opposition designed to simulate choice without threatening power.
The path forward is grounded in an awareness of our collective experience. By focusing on the expressed material needs of the vast majority, we can transition from objects of the "celebrity machine" to subjects who influence our own reality. This is the grounded, rational, and true hope for the future. One that the center MUST hold.
Stay curious.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe
More
This is an expanded episode of an essay i’ve recently written about how we need to radically rethink our idea of a centrist…one that needs to meet a completely new criteria…the center needs to hold the positions that a majority of Americans support. Radical idea I know. And currently, what is considered…“the center” does not meet this simple criteria. The current ideas of the “center” are radical brain rotted freaks. They are not serious people and should be treated as such. Our current center believes profit is the ultimate ego ideal to strive for…they wish to strip your humanity from every purchase you make. The irrational centrist holds profit as their first principle…in both the economic sense and the moral sense. We see this in the “not really political” influencers who define success through preselected goals: more cars, more crypto rug pulls, and a narcissistic drive to be seen “winning”. This is the “self-optimized narcissist” in action, a figure obsessed with an unachievable ego ideal. As Todd McGowan notes, the foundation of the capitalist structure is the promise of the future. We buy commodities to discover satisfaction, accumulate capital to “one day” have enough, and speed up distribution for future profit. This manufactured hope is sold back to us as progress, yet it is built on the false premise that satisfaction is always just one purchase away. Does it currently feel like the better tomorrow is coming? Our modern governance has transitioned from democratic deliberation to technocratic management. Digital platforms have eaten away at our minds, leaving behind conceptual ghosts and transactions. Our smartphones are no longer tools…they shape how we think and what we desire. We have entered a stage of "manufactured narcissism," where our public and private selves become indistinguishable as we perform roles scripted by the machine of fame and profit. Your average normie influencer does ad reads for another dog water company and we don’t even blink an eye. If they want to be influencers, we should be holding their feet directly in the fire when they are lazy profit hungry fools. Why do they get a pass? The current center facilitates a narcissistic fantasy where we no longer view ourselves as distinct from the objects we consume… instead, we are pushed into a capitalistic based fragmentation where our own consumption becomes a rotted form of self-reification. This creates a smokescreen that prevents us from understanding what we truly desire or what a healthy politics looks like. The current “Enlightened Centrist” (EC) is often just someone who is mentally tired and lazy (CC Lex Fridman as the perfrect example of sounding lazy and thinking lazy). They are tired of ideological purity tests, so they adopt “centrism” as a brand to mask their complicity. They preach a “pathological optimism” that masks the smell of a decaying status quo. A true centrist position must be an ideological inversion based on material reality. Consider the data: * Bipartisan Support: 67% of Americans support a Billionaire income tax, and over 60% support a wealth tax. * Healthcare Priority: 72% of voters support “radical” measures to lower healthcare costs and reduce the role of insurance middlemen. * Red State Realism: In 2024, deep-red states like Missouri and Alaska voted to raise the minimum wage and mandate paid sick leave. These voters aren’t “radical extremists”…they are working people who recognize that the status quo is irrational. Their “mistrust” is not a “doomer” mindset—it is a rational observation of a system where working full-time no longer guarantees stable housing or family milestones. The average American is grounded in reality. The elites? Are radical brain rotted fools that should be treated as such. And the irrational center tells us that universal healthcare and living wages are expensive fantasies. Meanwhile, “techno-utopians” like Sam Altman sell a delusional vision of an AI-driven future of abundance to obscure the current material rot of energy depletion and rising costs. They are promising you a better tomorrow while stealing everything from you today. How do we treat frauds? Do we give them another bail out? Or should we be operating more rationally? I think we should be prosecuting them for their lack of competence and fraudulent lies. It’s that simple. The true center must step back into the “grey zone” of reality. It refuses to lie to itself about what the system is. It recognizes that “hope” has become a consumer product designed to distract us from the harsh truth of our material predicament. We must stop allowing media influencers to act as highly paid PR firms for power. A rational middle ground should operate with principles of moderation and compromise, but it must reject the binary of left and right, which serves as a controlled opposition designed to simulate choice without threatening power. The path forward is grounded in an awareness of our collective experience. By focusing on the expressed material needs of the vast majority, we can transition from objects of the "celebrity machine" to subjects who influence our own reality. This is the grounded, rational, and true hope for the future. One that the center MUST hold. Stay curious. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit brendenslabyrinth.substack.com/subscribe