Ok, after yesterday's post I've thought about what I said, how I said it, and I'd like to regroup and restate my position. I appreciate all of the comments everyone made, whether supportive or not; it's always instructive to have one's point challenged.
Yesterday I started by saying that I thought the word progressive sounds stupid. I still think that, but it wasn't the right way to start off a diary - it only alienates. It's not my intention to alienate anyone, especially people who are on my side anyway. So I'd like to say a little about how, again, I believe liberal and progressive to be pretty much the same concept,how we on the left should use liberal more than progressive, and how shirking labels and ideology aren't really beneficial in the long run.
I consider myself a liberal. But I have nothing against the word progressive; in the lower case "liberal" and "progressive," liberal means open minded and progressive means wanting to move forward. They're both adjectives with obviously different meanings. So, when I'm being open-minded about something, I'm exhibiting a liberal point of view. And when I'm advocating change and action, I'm being progressive about something. However, as capital letter Liberal and Progressive, to me these words are competing terms to describe the ideology, or, if you prefer, the philosophy, of those in this country who's politics run on the left. It has nothing to do with who's more in the center, or who's more to the left. It' still an aesthetic question. Personally, I distrust politicians who run to the center. I believe that liberals, and especially the Democratic Party, should veer to the left and start building the base. But that's for another post.
So, is it really so bad that there are these two words describing the same point of view? I think so. I strongly believe in movement politics. I think that unless we view politics as an arena in which our side is a coherent movement that needs unity on at least some issues, then I think we will continue to lose when it comes to policy and elections. I think there's been some improvement in that area recently but it's only a beginning.
So, for me, I believe that the most important thing is that we decide on a word and stick to it. If someone can convince me that that word is progressive, then I'll be a progressive and recommend that everyone call themselves progressives. However, I prefer liberal, and, besides the fact that I think liberal sounds better than progressive, the reason I think liberal is better is largely that the public already thinks in terms of liberal/conservative. For the left to abandon the word liberal sounds indeed like we're abandoning something. While I personally understand that many who call themselves progressive view it as completely the opposite, that they are the ones refusing to be afraid of advocating their views, and they believe that they have been let down by many in the past who have called themselves liberal (the establishment liberals, back in the civil rights days, etc., it's true, they didn't do enough), I think we need to get past this and focus on what's better for our politics. It's my position that rallying behind liberal, maybe even giving it a more progressive image, will be better for us in the long run. It's an established brand, maybe a little tarnished, but I'm not afraid of the challenge.
So we need liberal. Or at least progressive. But we can't keep using a plethora of terms. It's too confusing. I want to be able to walk down the street one day and ask someone what the Democratic Party is and I want them to be able to reply to me, without missing a beat, that it's the liberal party, that they believe in national healthcare, a living wage, labor unions, gay marriage, and alternative energy. I do want some degree of unity on terms, on positions, or at least our main issues. If we can't all agree on gay marriage for instance, then let's agree to talk about equal rights, and to some people that will mean gay marriage, maybe to others it's civil unions, but at least a step in the right (or left) direction.
Ok, that's all for today. Tomorrow I'll probably talk about the left vs. the center.
PS
I'd like to add Americans for Democratic Action to the list I made yesterday of supporters of the word liberal. I like them a lot.
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