By mcoyote on September 5th, 2009 9:29 am, a commenter at:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/04-9 {please scroll down}
" "Progressive" is merely a term that was salvaged from the scrapheap of history, sorry but that's too great a metaphor not to steal, by the alleged "left" in this country because the Limbaughs, Kristols, et al had so demonized the word "liberal".
That's basically it, plain and simple.
The problem is, that in spite of the fact they were led by one of the biggest imperialists and warmongers, the original Progressives were a bunch of Bolsheviks, compared to the hegemonic capitalists who wrap themselves in the "progressive" mantle today.
While some of us here know that modern-day liberalism was founded to be a capitalist-friendly "third way" between socialism, and conservatism, most people do not. If they did and truly understood this history, they would not waste all of their time and effort into trying to make "liberals", and The Democratic Party in particular, into the socialists they might want them to be.
All too often "progressive" has come to mean someone who will offer unconditional support to The Democratic Party no matter what. It's all bullshit.
A progressive is someone who believes in the system.A "progressive" is someone who cannot admit to the systemic failure of the society. Through this stubborn blindness, they reveal their own fundamental loyalty to the social system as a whole. The solution to the "anti-democratic" turn in American politics is not to question its foundations, but to proscribe "more democracy" or "real democracy", without evaluating for a minute whether the ""turn" is really an aberration.
In economics, a "progressive" is one who blames an excess of greed, a deficiency of regulation, or the corruption of the state rather than the normal operation of capitalism. In this way, "progressives" are identical to Libertarians who, in the face of insurmountable evidence, continue to insist that it is "too little" and not too much "free enterprise" which is the problem.
They also both share with Nazis, their predisposition to conspiracies. It is secret societies, international bankers, "Jews", who pull the strings and undermine the New Jerusalem. We need a capitalism based on good intentions says the one, based on a strengthening of the "individual" claims the next, and one purged of racial corruption declares the last.
Fixing capitalism is the highest and in fact the only slogan of all of the above, and this in the most trivial and unhistorical way possible. Those are the last and the only words of this brand of "radical" criticism which is actually a radical support for the society as it exists... if only that society could be "allowed" to achieve its "true" nature.
Progressives are not Leftists/Socialists but are softer Capitalists.
1- Certainly progressives are on the left of the right-wingers and they seem to care about the poor.
2- Leftists, last time I checked, are people who believe in socialism, at least.
3- Progressives, as far as I can tell, don't believe in socialism.
4- While people believe Progressives are the top-left-radicals in America, this is not true, not even close. And because the media portray them this way, we are given the impression that the weak and slow change they advocate is extreme and almost intolerable.
So not only are Progressives NOT Leftists, I also submit this to you : by calling them leftists, which is a very charged term in America, we are limiting the terms of the debates, we are giving a helping hand to the right-wingers.
No, Progressives are not Leftists, they are softer Capitalists.
Ultimately progressives serve a vital function in preserving the status quo."
If his opinion is true then I must be a Leftist.
:shrug:
What are your thoughts?
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