The Center Must Hold Quotes

“Yet, as another economist, Wilhelm Röpke, reminds us, many areas of life will always remain beyond the spheres of supply and demand, largely unaffected by them.18 Friendship, grace, chivalry and beauty, for example, are not governed by the principles of the free market and never will be. These areas of life are no less important both in our daily lives and in our approach to government.”
― Yair Zivan, The Center Must Hold: Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism and Polarization

“Instead of asking which idea is true, ask which is more suitable for the current, fleeting moment in history, the current context.”
― Yair Zivan, The Center Must Hold: Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism and Polarization

“A zealot is one who thinks that a certain value is always the correct one. Zealots are blinded by ideology, and therefore blind to time and context.”
― Yair Zivan, The Center Must Hold: Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism and Polarization

“As James Madison famously observed, in circumstances of liberty, individuals and groups are bound to diverge in both their interests and their beliefs. The alternative to accepting social pluralism is using power, public or private, to suppress it. This means, in turn, that politics must seek to balance competing interests and conceptions of good lives, a process that often requires compromise.”
― Yair Zivan, The Center Must Hold: Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism and Polarization

“Liberal democrats modify pure majoritarianism by insisting on protecting individual rights, however majorities may feel about them.”
― Yair Zivan, The Center Must Hold: Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism and Polarization

“Centrism is the never-ending work of managing competing tensions,”
― Yair Zivan, The Center Must Hold: Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism and Polarization

“He wrote, “A disposition to preserve and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.”
― Yair Zivan, The Center Must Hold: Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism and Polarization

“One of the major effects of fear-driven politics is that it destroys trust in public institutions and poisons the public sphere.”
― Yair Zivan, The Center Must Hold: Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism and Polarization

“If the great challenge to democracies today is the emotional pull of populism and the way in which it is amplified by sections of the media and the algorithms of social media, then centrists must find a way to break through with an emotional appeal of their own.”
― Yair Zivan, The Center Must Hold: Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism and Polarization

“People who feel a sense of loss for a world that once was and fear the world that is coming are drawn to politicians who offer simplistic solutions, especially if no one else is willing to take those valid fears seriously.”
― Yair Zivan, The Center Must Hold: Why Centrism is the Answer to Extremism and Polarization