It's almost 1 a.m., but it's been a while since I've had a meaningful discussion. I need my fix. I understand conservatives, for the most part. Conservatives have established principles, and you can usually anticipate what their positions on certain issues will be. I understand liberals (progressives, but I'm a nice man), albeit slightly less. Liberals hold predictable positions on most issues. I don't understand centrists, and that's coming from a guy who is rooted firmly in the center-top of the political quadrant (which I am becoming decreasingly enamored with). As far as the political quadrant goes, I'm grazing the bottom of the word "Libertarian." I sit right on the center line, but I am not a centrist. A centrist in the American sense is somebody who doesn't necessarily ascribe to any of the major political parties. A centrist won't define themselves as a liberal, conservative, libertarian, "democratic" socialist (I'm nice enough to put sprinkles in your sewage, authoritarians), or anything else. I don't believe that it's entirely necessary to label oneself, but I believe that it's important to hold strong principles. Centrists, as we see them in the U.S., don't appear to hold those values. There's a small part of me that agrees with Milo Yiannopoulos - that a Trump presidency would benefit the American political system. Rather than defining ourselves as "Left and Right," we ought to define ourselves as "Libertarian vs. Authoritarian." Centrists could no longer hide in the allegedly-superior center of the spectrum. You support a free society, or you admit that you're willing to violently force others to behave in a way acceptable to you. There's arguably some middle-ground, but in a Liberty vs. Authority spectrum, there's far less middle ground to fight over compared to a Left vs. Right spectrum. [b]Anyways, I want to hear from some self-described centrists. What influences your position on issues? What values do you hold?[/b]