Atlas Shrugged—Chapter 3

The chapter opens with a conversation between Orren Boyle and James Taggart. Setting: Bar. Paul Larkin and Wesley Mooch are also there. Here is part of the conversation:

Boyle: There’s nothing more destructive than a monopoly.
Taggart: "Yes, on the one hand. On the other, there’s the blight of unbridled competition.
Boyle: That’s true. That’s very true. The proper course is always, in my opinion, in the middle. So it is, I think, the duty of society to snip the extremes, now isn’t it?

The tendency to assume a middle position is interesting. The middle way thinking in my opinion is weak and naive. It is a fence-sitting appease position. Today we call it bipartisanship. Anyone can define what they do as "in the middle" or "balanced" by simply defining the extremes around him. But, opinions are constantly shifting. What is extreme today might be mild 100 years from now. For example, the American revolution was considered extreme and radical at the time. Now, those who want to preserve the principles of the revolution are called conservatives. Since what is considered extreme shifts, the middle way is always shifting as well. It is an unprincipled position. It is the lukewarm position we should spit out of our minds.

It turns out that Fascist and Nazi intellectuals constantly touted a "middle" or "Third Way" between socialism and capitalism according to Jonah Goldberg. I do not think that they were weak but were appealing to the enticing nature of middle way thinking by simple calling their position the middle way. But, the Fascist were socialists nonetheless. It reminds me of an argument that says that things are both absolute and relativistic. This argument is silly to me because it ultimately means that everything is relative anyway.

Our goal should not be to find the middle way, but to find the truth. Once we find the truth, we should not move even if we are considered extreme while opinions shift all around us.

I have written about the left's claim to the middle way here.