The Radical Middle

Abraham Lincoln once referred to our government as a "government of the people, by the people, for the people." I couldn't agree more with this statement; we are privileged as United States citizens to live in a democratic republic, a form of government where the voice of the people is, in its most perfect form, equally and fairly represented. This being said, the political party that would best serve the people would be the party that represented the voice of the majority, the party who's agenda most closely resemble the opinion of the masses. Using this logic, the far left and right would not be the best choice to lead our country. It can be safely said that the majority does not lie near the extremes; by sheer intuition one can deduce that most people, when asked individually and independently of party affiliation, are moderate and lie somewhere near the middle. If we lived in a Utopian society, 85% of the people would lie within one standard deviation, considered moderates. Unfortunately, we do not live in such a society. The popularity of the last ruling political party and their respective representatives, economic, moral, and technological issues swing the opinion of the masses, and whether the popularity is for or against a political party depends on how the majority moves. Although the ruling political party is ushered via the voice of the majority of the people, a mere 1-5% of the popular vote ever separates a normal national election. A party that was able to win by 15% or more of the popular vote would best serve the people. That is why I believe the Centrist party would be the best choice.
As I stated earlier, this party would represent somewhere near 75% of the populations opinions. The benefit would be a more direct form of political thinking; where the well being of the whole is placed before anything else. If the bill Congress was to pass would be unpopular to the average person, then it might not pass as easily as if the far left or right was the majority in congress. The special interests of the democrates or republicans, coorperate giants and federal montrosities would come second to that of "Joe the Plumber."
On the down side, the Centrist party isn't very organized. They have a hypothetical platform, and although they are a registered party, they have not gained anywheres near the amount of publicity or support that the Democrats or Republicans do. This is because we have settled into a bi-party system, and many drastic things would need to occur before this tend could be broken. Even if the Centerist party gained the support and placed a member in the oval office, our problems would not go away. The swinging pedulum between Democrat and Republican control brings about change in the government. Out with the old, in with the new. Again, the majority is a moving target. Unfortunatly, centrist party control would not bring about the same change as our current system; thier views would be too broad and moderate. The Centrist party would stagnate any political evolution. The pendulum would stop, along with many other fluxuating trends such as the economy. If that party was to then become consistently elected, either the center/majority of the people would have to change thier opinions far enough to the right or left to be considered non-centerists, or we would fall into a rut which would be difficult to pull ourselves out of.