[Ajedi32]

I don't think this article is necessarily arguing for centrism. Being able to understand the perspective of all sides of an issue doesn't mean your own views will necessarily fall directly in the "middle" of those perspectives. It probably does mean, however, that you're less likely to demonize those who disagree with you.

[xwolfi]

There are no sides, and certainly not just 2 positions to have on issues. The rest of the world is a lot less binary than US politics as well.

I live in China and I smirk painfully at people in a biparty telling us our monoparty is oppressive and reduce variation of solution (having only 2 mutually exclusive choices is not twice as good as only one, it's like 10% better if you consider there are 10 choices of solutions). I vote for French elections and the choices are much more nuanced. Hell our president could only be described to an American as centrist when he's a lot more than the synthesis of socialism and conservatism.

[Ajedi32]

You'll notice I said all sides, not "both". That was intentional. As you say, there are often more than two sides to any one issue, and a near-infinite number of different perspectives once you start considering more than one issue at a time.

For what it's worth, the US actually does have more than two political parties. It's just that our first-past-the-post election system ensures only two of them are able to effectively compete on the national stage at a given time.