Unplugging from the Political Matrix

A case for centrism as a mindset, not a party line.

Audio:

Let’s start with a question.

Have you ever looked around—at the shouting matches, the tribal tweets, the endless rage—and thought: How did we get here?

I don’t mean a disagreement over policy. I mean the deeper thing. The dysfunction. The madness. The sense that we’re all locked in a cage match and nobody remembers why it started. I believe the answer is this: We’ve been programmed.

Programmed to believe every issue has two sides. That you’re either on Team Red or Team Blue. That your views must fit neatly into your tribe—no deviations, no nuance, no thinking required. That’s not politics. That’s propaganda. And it’s as subtle and suffocating as the Matrix.

Centrism is not a third party or a vague middle ground. It’s the red pill. It’s the moment when you stop playing the game and start asking: What if the truth doesn’t live at the extremes?

Let’s take abortion. Our national debate wants to pretend there are only two views: either you’re pro-life and want to ban it entirely, or you’re pro-choice and want zero restrictions. But most Americans live in the vast, unspoken middle. They believe abortion should be legal, especially early in pregnancy—but they also believe in limits. They believe in compassion and common sense. That position doesn’t fit into a soundbite. But it’s real. And it’s the majority.

Same with guns. You can support the Second Amendment and still believe we need background checks, red flag laws, and restrictions on military-style weapons. That’s not selling out. That’s being sane. But try saying it in today’s political climate and you’ll be called a radical by both sides.

What the extremes sell is identity addiction. They give you outrage, not outcomes. Enemies, not empathy. Over time, you get conditioned—triggered by buzzwords like “woke,” “fascist,” “deep state,” or “Marxist.” And every time you react, every time you repost or rage-share, you reinforce the algorithm. You're no longer participating in democracy—you’re just a user in a broken system. We all do this… its what we’ve been taught, and sometimes in a bar fight you must resort to unseemly tactics. And this is a bar fight.

Here's the catch: The extremes need each other. Trumpism thrives on far-left overreach. The far left thrives on Trump. That doesn’t mean they are equal in their awfulness, that’s just how addiction works. Rage becomes routine. Tribalism becomes comfort. And the country suffers.

Centrism interrupts that loop by saying No more.

And it isn’t built around a single person. That’s why I don’t buy into something like Elon Musk’s proposed “America Party.” You can’t build a coalition on a billionaire’s impulses and a pile of grievances. Unity built on personality always collapses into ego. Real centrism requires something harder: principle. Coalition. Humility.

And it doesn’t require a brand-new party. It can live inside the Democratic Party, which—despite the headlines—is still a big enough tent to house center-left progressives and center-right pro-democracy folks. It’s a place where disagreements can happen without blowing up the house. That’s not dysfunction. That’s democracy.

Centrism could do even more. Imagine 25 members of Congress—Democrats and Republicans—standing together and saying: No one gets our vote for Speaker unless they commit to restoring the House to a functioning body. No more using the gavel for fundraising. No more chaos votes to feed cable news. We want order. We want rules. We want results.

That’s not utopian. That’s literally what the Founders intended. And we’ve seen it work. The “Gang of 14” once stopped a judicial crisis in the Senate. Blue Dog Democrats have bridged legislative divides. The Problem Solvers Caucus has helped pass actual legislation. When centrists unify—not around ideology, but around temperament and responsibility—they get things done.

So I want you to picture something.

Picture a Congress where debate happens in good faith.
Picture a country where kids grow up seeing leaders argue with respect.
Picture politics not as a circus, but as a calling.

Now open your eyes.

That’s not a fantasy. But it won’t happen by accident. It will only happen if we unplug from the programming. If we stop reacting to extremes and start demanding better.

I didn’t leave Congress because I hate politics. I left because I love this country more than I love the fight. And I still do.

So this is my call to you. Be a radical. Be a centrist. Be the one who refuses to be used. Because our democracy needs you. And the majority of Americans—the real majority—are waiting for someone to lead us out of this madness.