I know everyone wants to adopt the word ‘progressive’ and no one wants to define it, but there are a few issues that I think are clearly progressive in the sense that most mainstream Democrats won’t touch them.
These are highly controversial issues that only progressives seem to have the balls to tackle. Number one, above all others, is the United States’ foreign policy towards Israel. I think there is a wide latitude for progressive thinking on the Israel-Palestine issue, but only progressives seem willing to truly question the wisdom and morality of supporting the status quo in the Middle East. In the simplest and broadest terms, progressives are willing and desirous to force a settlement on Israel that approximates the 1967 borders and involves the removal of all, or nearly all, settlers from occupied territory. Needless to say, I can count the number of politicians in Congress that espouse the progressive position on this on my two hands.
In a broader sense, progressives generally agree that our worldwide foreign policy is too large, too unilateral, too expensive, and the number one cause of the threat of terrorism. Progressives think we can make ourselves safer, improve the budget, and find funds for needed domestic programs and initiatives by rolling back our forward-leaning military basing strategy, sharing more responsibility for maintaining the international order, and cutting defense spending. Very few Democrats are willing to openly and consistently fight for these changes.
Progressives also appear to be about the only people that are willing to question the War on Drugs. Advocating the decriminalization of marijuana is still a fringe position. And drug and prison reform are not issues that mainstream Democrats are willing to tackle.
There are other issues (feel free to list them), but these seem like the big three. Democrats have compromised themselves on various issues in the post-9/11 era, and issues like retroactive immunity for warrantless wiretapping reflect their degree of compromise. Progressives have not been complicit in torture and illegal spying and violations of habeas corpus so progressives are unsympathetic to those that sold their soul on those issues.
One thing that should become evident in looking at the issues I’ve laid out is that progressives distinguish themselves from mainstream Democrats mainly through their interest in protecting civil liberties and their skepticism about the uses of U.S. military power. In this, progressives have a lot in common with libertarians and some paleoconservatives. I don’t think it’s an accident that Markos and I both consider ourselves ‘progressive libertarians’, although we have slightly different visions about what that means.
In laying out the issues this way, I may give the impression that progressives are defined by their proclivity to take positions that are outside of the political mainstream. I assure you that I do not mean to leave that impression. Progressives’ share many values with the majority of Americans and the majority of Democrats. In fact, progressive opinions do very well in issue polls. Depending on how you ask the question, you may find that the majority of Americans support single-payer health care.
Part of the mission of the Progressive Movement is to turn ‘fringe positions’ into safe centrist positions. From that standpoint, Obama’s early cabinet appointments are not accomplishing anything. I think that is where you are seeing some frustration. But, in the big picture, Obama has moved the national debate onto much more favorable turf. What we have is a Democratic country. It is going to be good on most progressive issues, but it is not going to good on some of the more taboo issues. There is always work to do.
