Classifying Viewpoints 13of advancement. He would rather live with the “devil he knows,
than the devil he doesn’t.” The liberal sees change as a necessary
and positive good. He is optimistic about the future and is willing
to chance the results of progress. He lives by the maxim “things
can be better than they are now.” A radical wants to destroy the
existing institution he is dissatisfied with, and create a new
world, usually without institutions. He usually envisions a
utopian world once the existing institution is destroyed. He
wants to start all over again, and this time get it right. Finally,
there is the middle o f the road view of the world. The middle of
the roader has no opinion, or more probably, cannot decide
which position to take on an issue, so takes none. Often he lacks
information or concern about the issue, so he chooses not to
choose.
At this point let us be clear about the middle of the road
position. Often it is confused with the idea of “moderate.” The
two terms are, in many cases, used interchangeably. In particu
lar, as a political designation, the two terms are properly inter
changeable and similar. But for our purposes, the middle of the
road is the failure or inability to make a value judgment, and
therefore, not a moderate position. As a matter of fact, the
conservative and liberal are moderates, the reactionary and
radical are at the extremes, while the middle of the road is simply
not making a judgment and therefore, not expressing an attitudi-
nal choice.
For our purposes we are going to eliminate consideration of
the three positions other than liberal and conservative. The
reactionary wants us to go back to a better time. In fact we can
never go back; time, technology, population, scientific discov
eries all change the world— in a real sense. We cannot go back
to buggy rides in New York City, except in Central Park; we
cannot expect a thriving steamship business transporting people
across the Atlantic, now that we have airplanes. The reactionary
who grew up in a small New England town with the town
meeting form of government may remember it fondly, but will
fight a losing battle if he attempts to reinstate it in Stamford,
Connecticut.
The radical wants to destroy existing institutions; he blames
them for our problems. Somehow the very institution is corrupt
and without redemption, and his “new world” requires we begin