One can retire from anything, politics, religion and philosophy included.   People come out of retirement, too.    Voluntarily or not, political centrism can be form of retirement.  Or social annihilation.  Being ignored or shunned come into possibility.  This got real while Donald Trump was running and then being President of here, king of us, supreme ruler of whatever there can be control of.  I knew, at the time, a lot of people who had been holding progressive views, and who stridently hated Trump.  I didn't hate the guy.  Didn't vote for the guy, either.   Centrism could, depending, mean remaining calm during political shit storms.

One purpose in centrist politics is to allow an alternative to the obstructionist tactics our liberal and progressive Democrats are so practiced at and proud of.  Another is to keep open the possibility of healthy working relations among Democrat and GOP individuals.  Liberals were adamant that they oppose anything proposed by GOP.  I believe greater good could have been achieved if, in the same shitty time frame, both parties beat holy shot out the banking industry for it's rotten evil business practices,  exorbitant credit card canards, and everyone should expectorate on the floor at the mention of the Federal Reserve.  But it was more important to get Trump out of office.  Why did no one consider making sweetheart with everyone and produce a decent Dem candidate for the next election, too late, oopsies, look what happened.  No one was watching the hen house.  Now we're all screwed.  We must talk more about adopting political centrism.