This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 14th, 2006 at 6:56 pm and is filed under News, Language, Meet in the Street. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Progressive, euphemism for Liberal?
Apparently there are conservatives who like to think that “progressive” is a euphemism for “liberal.” It makes them happy to know that Democrats didn’t embrace the term “liberal” during the recent election. I’m tempted to just say Bite Me, but I find that doesn’t do much good in the end. I’m not sure how much they care about distinctions and historical context—and lack of ideological dogma among progressives. Pearls, swine. They want to create dichotomy where none need exist.
I mention this become I wonder whether confusion over the term “progressive” is preventing media from seeing the election as a progressive victory. I know it isn’t. I’m just trying to figure out how they justify the apparent common wisdom in calling the election a victory for the center. Not everyone sees it that way, but mainstream media is screaming it loudly enough that people are bound to believe it soon unless we point out the error.
Democrats didn’t move to the center in this election. Democrats ARE the center, no matter that TIME lacks the imagination to make this more than a simplistic visual issue.
David Sirota’s article on the Connecticut Senate race offers a very interesting analysis of why Lamont’s loss was a progressive gain. John Podesta’s memo on the election is titled “The End of the Grand Conservative Experiment,” but the more interesting point is The Progressive Opportunity. Podesta emphasizes the common good and community. This doesn’t have to be a moment of domination but could be a time of cooperation.
People don’t know whether to call them populists or not, but many won on progressive ideas. The Congressional Progressive Caucus will add seven new members to make a membership of 71, the largest group within the Democratic Caucus. Some states (like my former home New York) are seeing progressive local leadership. I see this as a potentially progressive moment for wages, health care, economy, poverty, education, civil rights–you get the picture.
Alas, this isn’t true in my state, where
a Progressive is a Democrat,
a Democrat is a Republican, and
a Republican is a Fascist.
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