Political labels are kinda stupid. I reject the notion that you can decipher exactly what somebody thinks on every issue by slapping them with a one-word adjective. The world's more complicated and nuanced than that, and rigid adherence to label dogma interferes with our ability to have serious discussions and actually reach workable solutions and compromises. However, I won't deny labels' usefulness in at least getting a general idea of someone's worldview. While I wouldn't shudder at being called a liberal, I do prefer the term progressive for both myself and this blog. Here's a few reasons why.
1. Alliteration. Sounds better than Lazy Liberal, Lost Liberal, or Loony Liberal.
2. Conservatives have waged a war against "liberal" for 30 years, effectively turning it into a dirty word. Sad and unfair but true. They have turned "liberal" into a synonym for godless, American-hating, government-controlling-everything socialist. Rarely will you see a self-proclaimed liberal on mainstream media other than MSNBC. Fewer than 30% of American people self-identify as liberals. However, here's the kicker - if you asked the same people questions regarding specific policies free of political labels, a majority of them would express support for liberal-leaning policies. So, at this point in time, emblazoning yourself with a scarlet letter L cuts you off from a potentially receptive audience. Again, that's totally unfair, but it's especially important for me as I'm trying to reach an audience - the good folk of the Great Plains - who may be turned off by supposedly loony liberals. There are good liberals out there striving to reclaim their title from the pit of political blasphemy. I leave it to them to fight the good fight; my attention must go elsewhere.
3. In its modern American usage, "liberal" is ambiguous and slightly inaccurate in both a historical and international sense. The first liberals were Enlightenment philosophers who fought back against the autocratic rulers of their day, monarchs defended by traditional conservatives like Edmund Burke. These classical liberals included many of our Founding Fathers. This interpretation of liberal has remained more consistent through time in much of Europe. In Germany today, the Free Democrats are also known as "the Liberals" and are that country's closest thing to a Libertarian Party. There are also other uses of "liberalism" that may not have much to do with American domestic politics, such as the realist vs. liberal schools of international relations. So calling yourself a liberal can be confusing to an international audience, and as someone who cares about such things, I prefer to be a bit more descriptive.
4. Who are the true conservatives in America today? I belong to the side that wants to preserve the policies of the New Deal and the Progressive Era, although reform is always possible. I would agree with traditional conservatives like Otto von Bismarck that the state has a role in "promoting the general welfare" of society in order to "ensure domestic tranquility." Today's "conservatives" want to roll us back to the Gilded Age of massive inequality and extremely limited government intervention.
5. I take a lot of inspiration from the Progressive Era and its icons. In the early 1900s men and women of both parties began to strike back at the robber barons of the Gilded Age and dared to dream that life should be better for all Americans; that together we could move forward as a society. Theodore Roosevelt was labeled a traitor to his class for supporting government regulations and nationalization of federal lands. William Jennings Bryan roused populist sentiment across the Great Plains as a personage almost unheard of today - a fundamentalist Christian leftist. Woodrow Wilson, idealist to a fault, attempted almost beyond reason to peacefully make the world safe for democracy. I don't agree with everything these leaders did or believed, but I accept my inspirations warts and all, rather than dividing political figures into saints and supervillains.
6. I want to preserve our institutions, but I also want to move forward. Society can always improve and make progress. We have indeed made a lot of progress in American history, much of it fraught with turmoil. We abolished slavery. We gave women the vote. We established civil rights for all. We made the workplace safe and fair and sent children to school instead of a factory. We created a system so people won't have to needlessly suffer in their golden years. We defeated fascism and communism. We created the greatest economy the world has ever seen. We put a man on the freaking moon. All of this was accomplished by working together as a society towards a common goal. That is some impressive progress. But we can and must always do better. That is why I am a Progressive.
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