The Furious Spinner

Yes, yes, yes! George Lakoff says so well what I believe and yet fail to sufficiently articulate most of the time. Remember what I was talking about last week: the United States of America was founded on liberal ideas. The idea that people could and would govern themselves was a revolutionary progressive idea! America is innately liberal. So you know all them thar people who have been telling us for years that if we don't like America, we should pack our bags and leave? Theys gots it backwards ass: They need to be packing their bags. Conservative ideas and conservative policies are not the backbone of our country; they are not what made America great. They are what are destroying our country. Karl Rove wanted to create permanent Republican rule: That is a dictatorship; that's not an American value.

Be proud to be a liberal. Be proud to be a progressive. Be proud to hold the values that helped start this nation. We believe that people do have inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; we believe in the concept of privacy; we believe in equal rights; we believe in equal education; we believe in equal health care for all; we believe in the freedom of thought and speech; we believe in limitations on the power of government; we believe in the transparency of government; we believe in equal treatment under the law; we believe that people should not be detained by the government for indefinite lengths of time without being charged; we believe in fair and speedy trials; we believe in the rights of every person to have access to clean water and air, to good, fair, and healthy food; we believe it is our responsibility to care for one another and our planet.

Yes!

These are all awesome beliefs. So when someone tells you that progressives don't have any belief system, if they tell you our values change with the wind, you can cite all the things you do believe in. And if we pause to listen or gather information, that's a good thing because we also believe in science, and some new idea could be out there and we want to hear those new ideas. That is how progress is made!

But wait, George Lakoff says it very well, as usual:

"The progressive view of government is simple. Progressive government has two aspects: protection and empowerment. Protection is far more than the military, police, and fire departments. It includes consumer protection, worker protection, environmental protection, public health, food and drug safety; social security, and other safety nets. It also includes protection from the government itself, and hence a balance of powers, openness, fundamental rights, and so on.

"Empowerment include roads and bridges; public education; government-developed communications like the internet and satellite communications systems; the banking system; the SEC and institutions that make a stock market possible, and the court system, mostly about contracts and corporate law. Progressive government makes business possible. No one makes any money in this country without the progressive empowerment by government. A progressive foreign policy is not based solely, or even mainly, on the state -- about the 'national interest' defined as our military strength and GDP. Progressive foreign policy focuses on individual people's interests as well as national interests: on poverty, disease, refugees, education, women's and children's issues, public health, and so on."

I love this man.

Yes, I will, yes, I am, yes, yes, yes!

Proud to be a liberal.

May You Progress and Liberate in Beauty!

Labels: democracy watch, sustainability

2 comments

2 Comments:

Don Hazen has an interesting article that delineates what's going on in the Democratic party. (He's ostensibly reviewing a book, but his observations are more interesting than the book, I think.) What he says is related to what George Lakoff is talking about, i.e. there is no center.

It seems that Clinton and the establishment Dems are still trying to go "center" (i.e. Republican) and are eschewing progressive ideas. Grassroot activists, bloggers, and truly progressive Dems are saying, "Look, we know what we stand for. So let's stand up!" Yet, the establishment Dems are still trying to steer into the middle of some nonexistent road--and we all know what happens if you're in the middle of the road: You become roadkill. Lest we forget, the establishment Dems lost two presidential elections for us. This is a struggle for the soul and raison d'être of our country.

By  Kim Antieau, at 12:56 AM  

You're right.

People forget that this Country was founded not only an act of dissent--but by the result of a successful insurgency against an empire.

By  James, at 4:51 AM  

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