Why is Progressivism so SCAAAAAARY??

[nikto]

Much of America is clearly frightened by progressivism and real political reform.

WHY?
I've been trying to figure this out.

Just like children are afraid of their tetanus shot,
and dogs and cats fear the Veterinarian...

----It's scary to regulate big bank$ and huge corporations--If you try, they may hurt or kill you.
----Taxation is the scariest thing in the world and must be avoided at all costs upon
pain of death.
----To think climate change might actually be real is too just scary to acknowledge, ever.
----Single Payer HC would turn us all into communist-nazis who Jonah Goldberg and Limbaugh would hate.
----NOT privatizing Public Schools on a continuous basis would make investors mad, and they might hurt us or call us bad names.
----Foreign war$ are fun---Progressives would try to avoid them, and that would be dreary and boring, and Halliburton would
lose profit$. Can't have that! Change isn't possible here.
----Drone killings overseas are really cool and show America is tuff tuff tuff. The targets are all dark-skinned
foreigners anyway, so no problem there.
----If Glass-Steagall were fully reinstated, many cute kittens and puppies would die (and bankers would be angry
and might hurt us).
----Breaking-up the vast telecommunications monopolies isn't doable, because monopolies are great and wonderful,
and we never want to lose them, ever.
----We'll never stop fracking because clean water, soil and air is scary, awful, and undesirable.
----Fully legalizing cannabis will destroy the world (and hurt profit$ of for-profit prisons).
----Voting rights for all deserving citizens is scary and immoral and not what America is all about.
----Solar energy in any form is just wrong, immoral, unworkable, undesirable and hurts puppies and kittens very badly.
----NSA spying makes everybody a star and must never be stopped and only INCREASED---Knowing you are on-camera or being
miked all the time is exciting---Kinda' like being Justin Bieber. We can't take that away from average Americans without a
national loss of self-esteem.
----Trade agreements that GREATLY favor wealth over workers is what God intended. If you want more in life,
just be born a Koch!
----America is just so perfect as is, no need to change. And God would punish us if we did. So let's not change.
================================================================================
There. I think I figured it out.

Apparently, to many Americans, Progressivism is just simply, scary and undesirable in every way.

The status quo in America is so beautiful and perfect.

I think we'll keep it.

[winter is coming]

1. Progressivism scares people because corporations are people, my friend. n/t

[nikto]

2. I'll believe Corporations are people...

When we execute a few by lethal injection.



When do we start?

[nikto]

3. Conservatism just isn't scary...

Because stuff like continuous war$ of profit, declining economy for workers, water and air pollution,
privatized school system$, fake elections controlled by oceans of elite money, impure imports
from China and elsewhere, oil spills, NSA spying, drone killings,
militarized, "trigger-happy" local police forces, etc etc etc ARE NOT SCARY AT ALL, AND
ARE ACTUALLY RATHER ASSURING TO AMERICANS.

It's like being worried about an old paint job in your bathroom, when your house is on fire.

Paint job? Whoa... BIG PRIORITY!!!!

The fire? No problem.
No problem at all.

[unblock]

4. the whole web of deceit that props up the right wing might collapse if people listen to progressives

that's what really scares them.

[Jamaal510]

5. I doubt it's so much that

people think that progressivism is scary. With some people, they just don't pay much attention to politics. But according to numerous polls, most Americans (even among those who do pay attention) are a mixed bag in their ideology. You'll rarely find anyone who walks lock-step with either all RW positions or LW positions. This is one big reason why the GOP has been losing elections as of late, as they've been cozying with the RW fringe.
Even with a DU regular such as myself, there are a few positions where I'm not in total agreement with the supposed standard progressive position on. For example, I'm far from a hawk, but I don't consider myself a 100% pacifist, either; I see engaging in war as something to do as a last-resort when there is no better option. I also actually prefer drone usage over having boots on the ground, and I see surveillance as something that could use reform, yet is necessary for security reasons.

[PDittie]

6. Because it requires thought

and not a knee-jerk, xenophobic response.

I try to keep in mind that our species isn't all that far removed from throwing rocks at the rise of the moon.

[DebJ]

7. Because it means change, and change is scary..

"and accordingly, all experience hath shewn that mankind is more likely to suffer while evils are sufferable
than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed..."
TJ, Dec of Independence (from memory but should be right)

[nikto]

8. America's doomed

We are doomed by our own stupidity and blindness.

We are too deep in to save ourselves now.

America:
Loves the disease, hates the cure.


And that is the empirical Truth.




If you are one of the minority of Americans who actually see reality, good for you.

BUT...You are way too few.

[gratuitous]

9. Because there are very strong forces fighting against it

Usually those interests stay out of the public eye, and work behind the scenes, corrupting the process and subverting the system. Very large majorities of the population would like an increase in the minimum wage, or guaranteed health care, or reasonable regulation of firearms. Then these forces engage, and suddenly something that 75% or more of the people want goes by the wayside. Everyone is encouraged to shrug and say, "Well, that's just the way it is."

In fact, those same forces are the prime movers of apathy. Word is leaking out ever so subtly that the way things are isn't necessarily the way things have to be, but it's a long, l-o-o-o-ong game. Moving people off of square one is a hard task. But more and more people are beginning to nudge the levers of power that have been available to them all along. I'm actually kind of optimistic.