Democrats, Republicans need centrist leadership

The Herald report on the poll of Americans regarding the "direction" the U.S. is taking hit home! The "wrong direction" we are on is the direction of hate and divisiveness our politicians have been taking us for a decade or more.

As reported in the article, the dissatisfaction is not associated with income level or ethnic background. It also appears to not be associated with the general economy, which is growing slowly.

Then what is the big issue?

In my opinion, the elephant in the room is the total disregard of the needs and wants of the people. Our "representatives" in both parties have totally surrendered to the wing nuts in their political parties.

Their no-comprise, my way or the highway political dogma approach guarantees that nothing useful can get done. We are fed up with political gridlock and extremism by both parties!

I am a pragmatic centrist. Do what works. Work within the laws of finance and physics. Be willing to compromise.

I used to be a centrist Republican until the right-wing nuts purged the party of my ilk. Now I am an independent.

Please, Congress, compromise, honestly negotiate and find a reasonable central ground so that America can move forward again.

This used to be called "bipartisan" leadership. We have no "leadership" now, just self-serving politicians. That is why we are so unhappy with our government!

I recently read that only 15 percent of voters trust Trump and 20 percent of voters trust Clinton. This indicates that the vast majority of voters do not trust the present front-running candidates from either party! Time for a centrist third party to arise.

William Follmer

Bradenton

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Democrats, Republicans need centrist leadership ."