Tag Archives: progressive

2009/08/11

Note to Progressive Republicans: Teddy Roosevelt Left A Message. It is 1912 Again.

Lately I’ve taken to calling myself a RINO. It is almost a source of pride with me at this point. It bothered me at first. No longer.

“The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of others.” — Theodore Roosevelt, 1903.

I am a realist about things in life. My party is in disarray. It will stay that way for many years to come. It will be a decade or longer before the Republican Party possibly heals the internal rifts that grow with  each day.

The Republican Party now has three major factions: centrist Progressives (45%), traditional Conservatives (35%), and ultra-Conservatives (20%). All are conservative in the core sense: belief in smaller government, stronger national security, minimalist government intrusion into our personal lives and our freedoms, and fiscal responsibility.

Within both the progressive and conservative base are even more fracturous alliances: social conservatives, paleoconservatives, neoconservatives, fiscal conservatives, and libertarians (which also straddle the world of classic liberalism).

Bottomline: the primary fault line runs about 45% Progressive and 55% Conservative. We Progressives see ourselves as conservative, but to those further right we are just RINOs.

Even before Barack Obama won the presidency there were calls to strengthen the Republican Party throught purge of all but its most conservative members. There is seldom a day that goes by without a renewed call to oust us RINOs – a witch hunt really since we embrace the same core conservative beliefs as other Republicans.

Since the 2008 elections, we Progressives have spent a great deal of time wondering how best we can help our party heal, how to make it better, stronger, electable. My conclusion is that we cannot. Not immediately.

Roosevelt calls out to us: Stop trying. There are just times when there is no sense pursuing the conversation. Pursue your own course. Reach for success on your own. Do not chase the conservatives asking them to accept you. They won’t. They have no need for you. They have no care for your cause. They are self-absorbed. Proudly wear the moniker of “Progressive”.

So our course must be Roosevelt’s course. Just as he declared independence  from the Republican party leaving Taft to make his own case to the American people,  we Progressives must let the Conservatives sink or swim based upon their own merits. It is with deep sorrow that the party that Reagan helped build to such great success is now a regional political party.

For now, and for perhaps as much as a decade, we must focus on supporting other Progressives as long as they embrace and support minimalist government intrusion into our personal lives and our freedoms, minimalist government, strong defense and fiscal responsibility.

And we must preserve our faith in what makes us Progressives: “Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong”, Theodore Roosevelt, 1916.

So on issues like health care, the environment, national security, the economy and the protection of individual freedoms we must be reformers. We must realize that there is no difference between an overreaching government and non-competitive businesses which monopolize or control the marketplace. Both seek what isn’t theirs. As Progressives we must seek balance (not guaranteed outcomes) so that every American has the opportunity to live free, to prosper, and to grow America as its people believe fit — not special interests whether left or right, whether government or industry. All must be accountable to we the people.

We must also support those Conservatives that are open-minded and worthy of our support — meaning that they support our causes where we are compatible, and us theirs.

“There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother,” said Roosevelt.

We too are conservative and if that tent is large enough then we’ll be there.

But for now, we should stop trying to figure out where we fit in the Republican party. It is a waste of effort.

The Party will find us again when recurring electoral defeats finally move the party from denial back to reality. It won’t be easy. While we should speak no evil of a fellow Republican, we should not hesitate to point out what is right and what is not.

If we want the people to believe us then we must be believable.

“The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of others.” — Theodore Roosevelt, 1903.

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2009/07/17

Are You What You Think You Are? New Study On American Political (Philosophic) Allegiances.

In simple polling, the majority (50-60%) of Americans have consistently self-identified as “conservative” since the early Reagan era. When asked to explore their actual beliefs and to state preferences the picture changes.

The all-time great boogeyman of American politics — Liberals — never make up more than 15-20% of Americans no matter whether self-identified or as identified through issue preferences.

In this study, however, the electorate is broken down using a more expansive five-point scale of political ideology that reflects the variety of approaches people ascribe to today. Employing this more calibrated measure, 34 percent of the country identifies as “conservative,” 29 percent as “moderate,” 15 percent as “liberal,” 16 percent as “progressive,” and 2 percent as “libertarian.” After moderates are asked which approach they lean toward, the overall ideological breakdown of the country divides into fairly neat left and right groupings, with 47 percent of Americans identifying as progressive or liberal and 48 percent as conservative or libertarian. The rest are unsure or scattered among moderate and other approaches.

Learn more at  http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/03/political_ideology.html

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2009/07/09

So what is … a Left-Winger, a Liberal, a Moderate, a Progressive, a Conservative and a Right-Winger?

American politics are so much fun.

“The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that’s out always looks the best.” (Will Rogers, Illiterate Digest,1924, “Breaking into the Writing Game”)

One of the things that really bothers me about American politics is the passion for tagging someone: ‘Oh, he’s a left-wing socialist … or they’re a bunch of conservative right-wing fascists’ … or whatever.

What happened to just being plain about it?

Why not just say: ‘He’s a wuss that refuses to take the same position as me.’

Be a man about it. Just admit that the other guy is a moron because he doesn’t want to do it your way.

We Americans are just so into ‘us and them’. ‘Them’ is always the bad guy.

Republicans have long possessed a lockstep mentality (or did until recently). That’s probably the reason that they are so late to the game with proposed solutions when the call for ideas go out.  However, with things being what they are we really need the Republicans to get into the game so we can come up with American solutions to the problems facing us all.

Hopefully the Republicans find out soon what the party line is … or start thinking on their own.

Democrats on the other hand span the spectrum of beliefs. They come available and ready for all occasions.

As a party, the Big D challenge is that many of them generally hold in poor regard anything to the right of the center. Not that you can always blame them when a key statesman for the other side is known as Darth Vader and ‘my way or the highway‘ is considered an entire political philosophy.

Historically the Democrats have opened themselves up to critique. The tail often wags the Democratic dog. (And the same can be said for the red R dawg, too).  As Will Rogers once noted about his own political views: “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.”

On Sale. Cheap! Political Labels Are Now Meaningless

Once upon a time you could call someone a liberal and it would almost end the political career of that person. Not any more. The Republicans so misused, overused and abused the term that since 99% of America is now labeled liberal then what’s to hate about being liberal?!

Of course, the remaining 1% of real Americans are arguing about what is a Republican?! Good luck with that.

Recently, many Democrats have taken the same tack by smearing right of center folks as being conservative and right-wing. Conservative and Right-Wing are being used interchangeably.

Technically that may be true; conservatives are normally to the right of center.

I am conservative and NOT right-wing … just as many liberals are to the left of center, or even in the center, but are not left-wingers.

Definitions of Left, Center & Right Americans

Left-wing and Right-wingers often sound like liberals and conservatives. The difference is that the wingers are not afraid to trample truth in order to achieve their political goals. “Propaganda” looks like gospel compared to what these folks put out. Propaganda is the truth with a little but important lie stuck in there somewhere. It is political spin. The facts and the tales that come out of the mouths of wingers are usually much closer to a big fat lie than it is to being good quality propaganda. Wingers have logic and veracity issues cloaked as liberalism or confused with being conservatism.

Liberals and Conservatives both have principles and represent what is best in America. They just disagree. And while they may see truth differently, they both try to put America first. America is not a victim when these two meet — preferably over a beer or some other wholesome American pasttime. America is blessed because at the end of the day we all, liberal and conservative alike, are challenged in our views and there is wisdom and answers from both — with compromise usually encouraged upon us by moderates and progressives.

Moderates are absolutely the finest blending of red, white and blue. Moderates are perhaps the most practical of all Americans — their focus is on consideration of the facts and selecting the best solutions. Unlike liberals and conservatives they seldom have the hurdle of needing to get past their pride before getting on to finding an answer. Moderates seldom lead the way forward, however — which is hard to do when you are standing in the middle of American’s political intersection with heavy traffic coming and going both ways — the probability of the blue car hitting me is .04% less than that big truck coming … so I’ll … oops, need to recalculate. God bless them and protect them.

Progressives share many of the same challenges that moderates do, except they’ve figured out how to run like hell across the street when they see the lights change. Progressives are proactive, and made up of liberals, moderates and conservatives. Progressives live in the land of ‘why not?!’ … and are usually at the forefront of coalition building. Progressives often lead from both the left and the right at the very same time — because they are goal focused, yet take in consideration the bigger picture of not just tomorrow but the day after, too.

Warning: Progressives tend to be American independents. Don’t include them in your little party unless you are prepared for the occasional food fight. “I don’t think so” and “you are full of … stuffing” are two of their favorite phrases. Blend in some moderates that believe they are being taken advantage of and your party will be a big l-o-s-e-r.

I know that my definitions won’t suit everyone. But if you hear or read me using a political label then … please see above.

“Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.”
-– Will Rogers

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