PRESSLER: No More Middle in American Politics?

Former South Dakota U.S. Senator Larry Pressler said he is disappointed that so much money swayed voters and negative campaigning in the just conducted election that is sending former Republican governor Mike Rounds to Washington, D.C.

However, Pressler, who ran as an independent, says he’s not giving up his fight for a centrist and moderate approach to American politics.

“One thing that I’m going to do now is to form some kind of a foundation, a small, low key--maybe not so low key--effort to elect moderate candidates to office, both Republicans and Democrats and hopefully independents,” Pressler said.

The former three term U.S. Senator says he thinks the country is in trouble and needs to make some serious changes. The current political process, according to Pressler, is a duopoly of the Democratic and Republican parties and special interests.

But is the middle really gone from American politics?

“I’m very much afraid so,” Pressler answered.

But he also fears that extremism has also spread to journalism.

“But that’s also true in the media,” Pressler said. “We have CNN and we have Fox News. Young people who are trying to go into journalism tell me they have to declare fairly early if they are with the right or of the left. And that’s unfortunate because in the middle is where all the problems are solved.”