John Avlon Thursday, April 14, 2005

One of Jon Stewart's guests on the Daily Show episode that I wrote about earlier today was John Avlon, who was promoting his book, Independent Nation: How the Vital Center Is Changing American Politics. In the interview, Avlon urged moderate thinkers to take action and offer alternatives to extremist policies.

Avlon writes that while radicals on both sides of the political spectrum may get the press, it is the moderate-thinking majority that decides elections.

Organized as a series of short and colorful political biographies, [Independent Nation] offers an insightful and engaging analysis of the successes and failures of key Centrist leaders throughout the twentieth century. In the process, it demonstrates that Centrism is not only a winning political strategy but an enlightened governing philosophy that best reflects the will of the people by putting patriotism ahead of partisanship and the national interest ahead of special interests.
—IndependentNation.org

John Avlon himself is an excellent speaker, and I found his ideas thought-provoking, so I plan to read his book, and I'll be sure to post something on it when I do.