It's been a while - work and family has kept me busy. I wrote this essay the other day on progressivism for beginners for a little (emphasis on little) political gathering that we had at home. I was a little rushed, so it's not perfect, but I think it's worth sharing.

BTW - how about Obama's speech on race? Wow. And I only read it.

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¹pro·gres·sive (\prə-gre-siv\)

adjective

:of, relating to, or characterized by progress b: making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities

noun

:one that is progressive b: one believing in moderate political change and especially social improvement by governmental action

What is Progressive Politics?

If you’ve been paying attention to politics recently, and particularly if you’ve been reading online blogs, you have probably heard the term “progressive”; perhaps you’ve wondered what, exactly, it means. If so, this essay is for you: it is a very short, and probably very biased, introduction to 21^st century American political progressivism.

At first glance, the word “progressive” is a drop-in replacement for “liberal”. Liberal, as we all should know, is a code word that activates buried programming in the minds of right-wingers, causing them to erupt in violent raging paroxysms, usually accompanied by much semicoherent babbling about communists, the UN, and how Jesus hates f*gs. While this can be quite entertaining (safety first! – keep your distance), it is not conducive to any sort of dialogue or useful collaboration, thus the need for a replacement word. Progressivism is more complex than renamed liberalism though. The definition from above is clear, though I think incomplete: “one believing in moderate political change and especially social improvement by governmental action” I would add that “Civil liberties and freedom from authoritarianism are core values and must be taken into account when considering any political changes or social improvements”. Progressives may share many of the goals of traditional liberalism, but the progressive will be much more reluctant to use the coercive power of the state (or that of any other group) even in the service of a “good” cause. Lest I be accused of liberal-bashing, let me say that modern conservatives are positively addicted to coercive power in the law enforcement and security arenas, attempt to turn social improvement programs into profit centers for cronies, and lately, have shown nothing but contempt for civil liberties; as such, they are anti-progressive.

Having only anti-authoritarianism as an ideology gives progressives broad scope for contemplating and implementing change. The antidotes for authoritarianism are transparency and accountability; a progressive policy is one that does not allow those in power to hide their actions, and one that provides consequences for those that abuse their power. These principles can be widely applied. Let’s look at our healthcare system as an example. Any move to expand coverage or lower costs to consumers via collective action has conservatives screaming about “socialized medicine”. If there were any actual left-wingers in this country, they would be screaming about “corporate blood money”. Meanwhile, everyone else is just screaming because they can’t get the care they need. To a progressive, neither capitalism nor socialism is an ideology; each is merely a different way of allocating resources, each with its own set of strengths and weaknesses. In pursuit of a goal, a progressive may propose a hybrid system that would satisfy neither of the traditional ideologies: for example a publicly audited single-payer healthcare system combined with with private medical practices. A system such as this captures the economies of scale and documentation simplification of having one (government) insurer, and provides the social good of universal coverage, yet by preserving private practices, it also makes use of the capitalist virtues of competition and avoids the inefficiency of micromanaging resources by central planning. Public auditing of the system limits the scope for fiscal and performance-related monkey business; those that abuse the system are exposed and penalized.

So the essential question is: why should you vote progressive? Our country has a challenging decade (or more) ahead. Some problems we have in common with the rest of the world: climate change, peak oil, human trafficking, and the proliferation of destructive weapons and those who would use them without restraint. Other problems are solely ours: unaccountable executive power (“I am the Decider” = “l’etat c’est moi”), ubiquitous surveillance of civilians, an archipelago of secret torture prisons around the world, a healthcare system on life support, and an economy that rewards those that have far more than those that do. If you’d like your children or grandchildren to have a quality of life as good or better than you have, then these problems are in urgent need of solutions, and the traditional ideologies have at best not delivered, and have indeed created some of the problems. We need a rebalancing of power between citizens, the government, and corporations; ultimately, the government is supposed to be accountable to us, not to big donors or favor-seeking corporations. We can rebuild a country where everyone has an opportunity to succeed, a country that is respected around the world, a country that at least tries to live up to its ideals. This will not happen all at once, and in true progressive fashion, it should happen from the bottom up. This means that all the political races matter – local government, state government, and national government. Let’s support the implementation of sane policies at all levels of government – cost-effective policies that benefit the most citizens possible, while preserving our freedoms.