Time to rise up Progressives!

It is time to raise our voices and educate the public what Progressive Politics is all about. Since Ronald Reagan we have allowed the conservatives to control the narrative that has demonized the terms liberal and progressive to associate us with Marxism, Communism, evil Socialism and the Anti-Christ. We have to gain control of the narrative, if we hope to move this country into the 21st Century.

For those who do not know, progressivism is a political movement that represents the interests of ordinary people in their roles as taxpayers, consumers, employees, citizens, and parents. To coin a phrase, progressivism champions government "of the people, by the people, for the people."Given this mission, one might expect all democracies to be made up predominantly of one or another Progressive parties. Unfortunately, this isn't the case.

Progressives hold that government in general is not evil and when controlled can be a great benefit to society as a whole. No one wants over reaching, over bearing, and oppressive government. In fact we want less government defining our personal lives in what we believe, read, watch and what we do in the bedroom, what you do with your own body, and less personal regulations. 

We also know that we must have an effective government to protect us from the tyranny of the majority, from the inherent power of the wealthy and powerful corporations and to provide services for a good quality of life, such as transportation, safe food and water, waste management, defense, law and order, safe work conditions, and safety nets from starvation and un-necessary death.

Contrary to the conservatives claims, progressives do not feel that individuals should have a free ride in life at the expense of others. We hold that there should be equal opportunity, regardless of social/economic situation, race, gender, gender orientation, age, etc. We also hold that for those who find themselves in a situation of not their choosing, such as being laid off work, national economic collapse, severe injury, disability both physical and mental and the effects of old age should be aided in their survival. There should be the opportunity to obtain great personal wealth, but not at the expense of the laborers and consumers who create the wealth. There should be reasonable rewards for being part of generating the wealth through fair wages and benefits, safe work conditions and assistance in retirement.

We support Capitalism and the Free Market. But we also understand the free market can not provide all the essential services a population needs or at a cost that society can afford. Therefore, in these situations, it might be best that government should provide the service, with the proper oversight to reduce corruption. Conservatives must realize there is as much, if not more, potential for corruption and abuse by corporations and the very wealthy, than from government bureaucracy. Corporations can kill as we have seen in the mining accidents and oil rig fires, just the same as poor government leaders who start unnecessary wars that kills tens of thousands of humans or overlook their regulatory responsibilities of oversight of corporations thus allowing facilitating our financial system to collapse, as well as the harm caused by an industry to the citizenry. 

Labor unions were a balancing force to greedy corporate management and stock holders. But they too became corrupt and failed their primary responsibility to their members. But it was they who helped build the strong middle class in the post WWII area that made America the economic power house it became. They drove the economy in many ways.

Today we have weak and limited labor unions. Greed has taken over our economic system. Workers wages have remained flat for the past several decades, while management has seen nearly a thousand percent increase in income during the same period of time. The middle class was squeezed out. When I have time, I will iterate my thoughts about what is happening to the wealth of America and why you and I should be scared to death about what is happening. 

What is fascinating is through history progressivism has switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. Progressive Republicans like Pres. Lincoln pushed for equal rights by freeing the slaves, progressive Republicans pushed to regulate business practices, address health hazards, improve working conditions, and give the public more direct control over government through direct primaries to nominate candidates for public office, direct election of Senators, the initiative, referendum, and recall, and women's suffrage. One of their most progressive members was Republican President Teddy Roosevelt who pushed for clean water, protection of wilderness and wildlife, and scientific management of natural resources. Today the conservative Republicans want to reverse what the early Republicans did. It is the Democrats that have taken up the progressive movement of the old Republican Party to retain these progressive ideas and to extend them further to equality under the law of LGBT citizens, the civil rights movement of the 1960's, pushing for more open elections and for accountability and transparency of government. 

So the bottom line is it is not really about Democrats and Republicans as it is the battle of Conservatives and Progressives. It is obvious from this past mid-term election that the Republicans to the greater extent and yes the Democrats to a lessor extent have been purchased by major corporations, foreign governments and very wealthy individuals. Until that is changed and our representative are by the people, for the people and of the people, America will continue to decline as a first world nation.