Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
BY CHRIS MOODY
For House Democrats, 2011 is likely to be the year of the progressives.
The midterm elections largely purged the party of moderate Blue Dogs, meaning that for the first time the Congressional Progressive Caucus will represent more than forty percent of Democrats in the House. There’s no question Democrats are now a progressive party. The only problem: nobody can agree on what the word “progressive” actually means.
And not for lack of trying. While many have tried to define the term — John Podesta of the Center for American Progress wrote an entire book on the subject – no consensus has emerged. Call a dozen different self-described progressives, and you’re likely to get as many different explanations of what a “progressive” is.
“I’m not sure what the definition is,” conceded James Rucker, executive director of Color of Change. “I don’t love the term.” Rucker co-founded his organization with former White House “green jobs czar” Van Jones, so there isn’t much question about where he stands politically. But the term still strikes him as opaque. “I think it’s kind of the new ‘liberal,’” he said.
Ambiguous? That may be the point. “People use the word ‘progressive’ these days in part because the word liberal has been discredited by the right,” said Roger Hickey, co-director of Campaign for America’s Future, a Washington-based non-profit that touts itself as “the strategy center for the progressive movement."
Hickey, whose group hosts one of the most prominent annual gatherings of liberal activists in the country, added that there is more to the term than just a rebranding effort. “‘Progressive’ connotes that element of economic populism and the little guy up against big corporate forces that liberalism does not,” he explained.
“Progressive” may connote standing up for the little guy, but an awful lot of big guys have suddenly appropriated the term. When asked in a debate during the 2008 presidential primaries if she considers herself a liberal, Hillary Clinton said she prefers “the word progressive” because liberalism “has been turned up on its head and made to seem as though it is a word that describes big government.” In October, the President of the United States himself told a group of bloggers that he considers himself a progressive. The Center for American Progress, the progressive movement’s brain trust in Washington, now has a budget of around $25 million.
So what does it mean? Some progressives contend that progressivism is a distinct subset of modern liberalism. Others say that it’s a set of beliefs separate and apart from liberalism – indeed, beyond the traditional “liberal versus conservative” divide.
If you’re confused, you’re not alone. Even within left-wing circles, the debate rages. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and Glenn Greenwald of Salon got into a heated discussion last Friday after O’Donnell accused liberals of hiding behind the term. He went on to suggest that the re-emergence of the word “progressive” was nothing but a mere marketing ploy.
“Glenn, unlike you, I am not a progressive,” O’Donnell said on the “Morning Joe” program. “I am not a liberal who is so afraid of the word that I had to change my name to progressive. Liberals amuse me. I am a socialist. I live to the extreme left, the extreme left of you mere liberals, okay?”
Former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta spent almost 250 pages working to explain the difference between liberals and progressives. In his 2004 book, The Power of Progress, Podesta argued that progressivism values pragmatism over ideology. “Progressivism…is less theoretically developed and more hands-on in its approach,” Podesta wrote.
President Obama seemed to espouse this view in his 2009 inauguration speech when he said, “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.” John Halpin, who directs research at the Center for American Progress, echoed Podesta’s definition. “[P]rogressives believe the typical liberal-conservative fight over big government versus small government misses the point,” Halpin wrote, also in 2004. “We want to focus instead on finding the best solution – public or private – to a given problem, a proven approach that marries American pragmatism and our history of taking all challenges head on.”
But despite the certainty of these claims, the fine points still seem lost on leaders within the movement.
“I consider myself a progressive, but I don’t know what would distinguish a progressive from a liberal,” James Rucker said.
“Generally it’s interchangeable,” Roger Hickey added. “Progressives are a little bit more populist about the economy.”
When asked what he considers the difference between liberals and progressives to be, “progressive hero” Rep. Alan Grayson, the recently defeated Florida Democrat, replied merely, “I don’t know.”
Asked to define the term, Grayson described decency itself. Progressivism, Grayson said, is “the same impulse to be good to your fellow man that has been animating people for over 3,000 years. People have understood the need to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and to heal the sick. After 3,000 years that job is not done. So we keep at it. Progressivism is rooted in human nature. When people see other people in trouble they want to help. Progressivism is the objective manifestation of that impulse in politics.”
So what does that make liberalism? At this point, it’s not clear.
(This article originally appeared at Daily Caller)
- Comment (12)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments :
May '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
It's simple. Progressivism is the idea that human nature itself can progress/evolve. It's faith in the possibility of an undefined utopia brought about by government.
Jun '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
Grayson: "People have understood the need to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and to heal the sick. After 3,000 years that job is not done. So we keep at it.".
Yes, Alan right up to point that "the hungry" are obese, "the homeless" are squatting in their foreclosed houses waiting to be evicted, and "the sick" are bankrupting the country with government expenditures on Medicare and Medicaid.
Oct '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
Ambiguous? That may be the point. “People use the word ‘progressive’ these days in part because the word liberal has been discredited by the right,” said Roger Hickey, co-director of Campaign for America’s Future, a Washington-based non-profit that touts itself as “the strategy center for the progressive movement."
What he really means is that the term "liberal" has been defined by the right (and by everyone else). The word now has an actual agreed-upon meaning in the minds of the majority of English speakers.
So the Left's quandry was this: How do you hide your "quasi-socialist/Euro-nanny-state" agenda when you're known as a liberal and when everyone knows that the word liberal refers to people who have "semi-socialist/Euro-nanny-state" agendas.
Well, you take a tip from Orwell and you use newspeak. You call yourself and your buddies "progressives." Your hiding place is again secure because (for now at least) progressive means anything the writer, speaker, listener, or reader decides it means. Progressive has no meaning that even a minority of English-speakers can agree upon. It is a non-word, and therefore perfect for their purposes.
May '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
No. No they cannot. It's a cowardlymessaging evasion, since "liberal" fell into disuse after many years of misuse.
But even gay San Franciscan dudes on the interwebs are shying away from "Progressive" lately. Progressives want to make you eat your spinach or else go to gaol, and that's anathema.
Mostly, progressives are just anti-gecko.
Jun '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
I agree with Aaron, but would add two more fundamental elements: first, that the key to this progressive utopia consists in wise technocrats redistributing the wealth created by entrepreneurs and the middle class to other classes. Second, the mere fact that every prior attempt to create heaven on earth has failed does not dissuade them; thus, the progressive is the advocate of "hysterical optimism." (the great Richard Weaver coined the phrase).
Edited on Nov 9, 2010 at 10:26amMay '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
The Daily Caller: BY CHRIS MOODY
Asked to define the term, Grayson described decency itself. Progressivism, Grayson said, is “the same impulse to be good to your fellow man that has been animating people for over 3,000 years. People have understood the need to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and to heal the sick. After 3,000 years that job is not done. So we keep at it. Progressivism is rooted in human nature. When people see other people in trouble they want to help. Progressivism is the objective manifestation of that impulse in politics.”
For 3,000 years people took care of the needy in their neighborhood, town, community. Progressivism is a sham. It sounds all cuddly to the children they are trying to brainwash, but it is purely envious re-distributionism (did I just invent a word?)
As a result, in large part, nobody cares for anyone, except the government. I think we're lucky that human suffering isn't a magnitude worse than it is in America.
Aug '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
My definition: The belief that rights and responsibilities should not be distributed equally but rather should be distributed on a “progressive” scale. Those at the “lower” end of the scale should have greater rights and fewer responsibilities. Those at the “upper” end of the scale should have lesser rights and greater responsibilities.
Examples:
Sep '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
Progressivism is a belief that human nature is infinitely malleable into angelic splendour along with a belief that Star Trek proved that the ordinary laws of economics, physics and the border states of Mexico do not apply to intentions and wishes if they are sufficiently weepy enough.
Jun '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
Who could be against "progress?" WFB for one, "standing athwart history yelling stop!" Need anyone say more?
May '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
Re-branding only works if you let them do it. Keep pounding on "liberal liberal liberal", and always use it together with "progressive". Make it one word- "Progressiveliberal".
May '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
Really, "hippies" is still the most accurate label.
Oct '10
Re: Can Progressives Define What To Be a 'Progressive' Actually Means?
Well, the whole idea is a bit absurd. I'm amazed every time I read of yet another "liberal" from a decade or two ago who is "conservative" today. Seems progressives are simply a left-fascist movement, and they've kicked out almost all truly tolerant, progress-minded people.
(I'm not talking about the centrist democrats here; they're much more reasonable. I'm not sure their self-application of "progressive" works though.)