If you have ever driven in Nashville traffic while being tailgated by a pickup truck and passed by a Prius going 95 miles per hour, then congratulations—you already understand American politics.

This brings us to the 1972 philosophical classic Stuck in the Middle With You by Stealers Wheel, which famously states: “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right…” This was originally about being at a dinner party with the music industry. Still, it has since become the official anthem for anyone who has watched national news and immediately reached for headache medication.

Let’s start with the world of education, where things have become so complicated that even the whiteboard seems stressed out. The National Education Association recently held a training session titled “Advocacy and Free Speech Rights for K-12 Educators,” which sounds like something that should include a casual discussion of the United States Constitution, how to work with policymakers, and at least one stale doughnut. Instead, it veered into activism—raising the perennial question: when does “educating students” become “auditioning for a New York Times editorial position”?

Teachers already have a heavy workload. They are expected to educate, mentor, manage behavior, differentiate instruction, incorporate or unincorporate technology, and sometimes explain to parents why little Johnny cannot earn extra credit by “vibing.” What the NEA tried to pass off as training was not truly helpful to classroom teachers and instead damages public education, while losing support from parents and taxpayers. The NEA limits dissent in its own offices, according to one whistleblower.  

But wait! Before you rush to one side of the ideological stadium, waving a foam finger and shouting, we need to acknowledge the other side—where billionaires and advocacy groups operate with the organizational precision of a Chick-fil-A drive-thru during lunch. Groups like Americans for Prosperity mobilize an equal number of activists across the country, which is impressive, although “grassroots” feels like a flexible term here when it’s linked to a national headquarters and out-of-state funding.

Meanwhile, the political influence of figures like Charles Koch (and his late brother David Koch) has been both exaggerated and misunderstood. Their support spans across ideological lines—from gay rights, abortion, open borders, to school vouchers, criminal-justice reform, and a balanced budget—in ways that confuse many. They are essentially libertarians, conservative on economic issues and socially liberal on others. In today’s political climate, that is seen as highly complicated behavior.

And this is where things get truly fascinating, in a slightly alarming, “why is that raccoon holding a book to read?” kind of way.

Despite the constant shouting from both sides, a large portion of Americans are standing in the middle, holding their coffee and quietly saying, “Can we please just fix the roads, educate kids, and maybe lower the price of gas?”

The number of people identifying as moderates has been decreasing. Yet almost half the country now calls itself independent, which is like saying, “I don’t belong to any gym, but I do have very strong opinions about the need for exercise.”

The data shows we are dividing into clearer ideological groups, like laundry sorted into “whites,” “darks,” and “things you better not wash.” Yet, beneath all that sorting, there is still a surprising level of agreement on real issues like affordability, safety, and overall well-being. In other words, these are the topics people discuss when they are not on social media, which is increasingly the only place where nobody agrees on anything, even whether water is wet.

So here we are—stuck in the middle.

On one hand, teacher unions, the NEA and the AFT, have gone too far with ideological advocacy, which hurts teachers. On the other hand, powerful networks are influencing public policy just as strongly. In the middle are millions of Americans who care less about winning arguments and more about living decent lives. The future of our state and country depends on how well either party can win over the independent voters. Whoever garners the most support moving forward will shape our path.

Every teacher knows—and this is key—that words matter. In a functioning democracy, we argue, we debate, we occasionally send strongly worded emails with too many exclamation points!  We do not resolve disagreements by trying to harm each other, whether personally or professionally.

At some point, someone has to turn down the volume.

Because if everything is an emergency, then nothing is. If every disagreement is treated like the final battle in a superhero movie, eventually people stop watching—and worse, they stop listening.

So maybe the real lesson here is not from a “supposed” training session or a political strategist group, but from a slightly anxious 1970s song: it’s okay to feel stuck in the middle. In fact, that might be the only place where actual problem-solving can happen.

Also, and I cannot stress this enough, if you see clowns to your left and jokers to your right, it may be wise to slowly back away and check whether you have accidentally wandered into a circus.

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JC Bowman is the executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee.