I just took a politics test, and it said that I am best described as a Centrist. What is a Centrist?

Question

I was also pretty close to being a Capitalist.

Answer 1

You're like me. A centrist takes the best of both political ideologies of the left and right. You're in the middle, don't listen to those that say moderates don't know anything or can't take a stand. I do take stands and aren't afraid to defend them. You don't fall into the liberal/conservative category. You might agree with the Republicans on one thing but share some beliefs of the Democratic Party. You're not a partisan hacker.

Answer 2

Here is the clear definition.
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In politics, centrism usually refers to the political ideal of promoting moderate policies which land in the middle ground between different political extremes. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of Left-Right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between left-wing politics and right-wing politics. However, there is arguably more than one dimension to politics, so even the centre has its own radicals as exemplified by radical centrist politics.

An alternate definition is to assume that the two poles in question (e.g., Left/Right) are well-defined, and then (i) define as 'centrist' any position which the Left considers too far Right and the Right considers too far Left, and (ii) define as a 'Centrist' any person who self-identifies more with those positions than either the Left or the Right. The weakness in this argument is that it is difficult to unambiguously and objectively define both poles at once, but that difficulty affects all political definitions, not just centrists.

In practice, the two poles can only be well-defined in a specific place at a specific time, since they differ from place to place and change over time. Thus, "centrism" itself means different things in different places (depending on the local political spectrum) and changes over time. For example, ideas that were considered extremist 200 years ago (such as democracy and universal suffrage) are considered centrist today - while other ideas that were considered centrist 200 years ago (such as slavery and racism) are considered extremist today.

Centrism in the Marxist movement
"Centrism" has a specific meaning within the Marxist political movement. It usually reflects an ideologically held position between a revolutionary and reformist position. For instance, the Independent Labour Party was seen as centrist because they oscillated between advocating reaching socialism through reforms and advocating revolution. The members of the so-called Two-and-a-half International, who could not choose between the reformism of the democratic socialist Second International and the revoluntionary politics of the Communist Third International are exemplary of centrism in this sense (examples are the POUM and Poale Zion). Marxists often describe centrism in this sense as opportunistic, since it argues for a revolution at some point in the future but urges reformist practices in the mean time.

On a related note, the term "Centrism" also denotes positions held by some of the Bolsheviks during the 1920s. In this context, "Centrism" refers to a position between the Right Opposition (which supported the New Economic Policy and friendly relations with capitalist countries) and the Left Opposition (which supported a planned economy and world revolution). By the end of the 1920s, all three factions had been outmaneuvered by Joseph Stalin who, while casually aligning with each of them in turn, built his own power bloc and had the leaders of the three factions removed from their positions, imprisoned and eventually executed during the Great Purge. At the same time, he implemented policies that drew some ideas from each of the factions, combined with his own characteristic ruthlessness.

Answer 3

You should ask the person who made up the test. Centrist sounds like "moderate" or "middle of the road" somewhat half way between left and right.
If you own property, you are a capitalist.

Answer 4

Centrist is basically you're in the middle, but are you leaning more to the right or left, that matters kind of more. If you are closer to being a Capitalist, I think you are leaning more to the right, which are the Republicans.

Answer 5

A centrist is a rational non-extremist. That means that you're like 75% of the American population and 2% of the vocal internet population.

Answer 6

I am centrist, too.

CENTRISTS espouse a "middle ground" regarding government
control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on
the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention
and sometimes support individual freedom of choice.
Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind,
tend to oppose "political extremes," and emphasize what
they describe as "practical" solutions to problems

Answer 7

A Centrist would be someone who is more willing to compromise and promotes a more "middle of the road" approach rather than an extreme approach.

Answer 8

Being a centrist means that you have no personal opinion or orignal thought. You are at the whim of who can convince you rather than THINKING.

Answer 9

n politics, centrism usually refers to the political ideal of promoting moderate policies which land in the middle ground between different political extremes. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of Left-Right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between left-wing politics and right-wing politics. -- Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia

Answer 10

A centrist is someone who is afraid to take a position and always takes the easy way out!