What a Truly Progressive Agenda Looks Like, Part 1: Why Bother?

Foreword

An Exercise In Futility

“The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.” ~ H.L. Mencken

I felt compelled to write this series of articles due to the discouraging tendencies that I have seen and currently see among the statist left. As an anarchist, I do not primarily rely on working within the system in order to achieve my ultimate goals. However, I do wish that I could count on Progressives, state socialists and even Democrats to at least relieve some of the pain caused by The State as well as inch things along in somewhat the right direction.

I wish.

Far too often, I’ve had to mutter under gritted teeth, “with friends like these, who needs enemies?”.

This attitude of mine is not popular on The Left, for obvious reasons. All too frequently I get glares, and am accused of believing in “all or nothing”. Furthermore I am frequently told, “that attitude” is what keeps getting The Right into power time and time again which is why things are getting so bad economically for the working class and socially for anyone who is not a well-to-do heterosexual male W.A.S.P..

The statement “all or nothing” is implicitly juxtaposed with, “something is better than nothing”, unless I am seriously misunderstanding something. In other words, there is a HUGE assumption being slipped into the attempts dissuade me from being so critical of the statist left, namely, that I am “getting something”.

But what is that “something”?

Obviously, Progressives have answers for me. They tell me tales of all the wonderful things FDR did during the depression, or about the years of wonderful prosperity immediately following WWII. Any attempt to question these “wonderful” things, or their application to today is usually met with a greater or lesser degree of hostility. The lesser degree would include saying that I am too “all or nothing” and that to get things done, I must “compromise”. The greater degree includes me supposedly being a “capitalist”, or “pro-Hoover” or sounding “right-wing” not caring about the poor– you get the idea.

There’s A Reason I’m Balding

“Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.” ~ Genesis 25:29-34

The attempt to have a serious discussion with the statist left on economic issues is often frustrating, maddening, saddening, and feels fruitless, with very few exceptions. I often feel alone politically as the people who are supposedly my allies support many short and midterm goals which I also support, but often approach the problems on unsound economic footing, which often lead to greater concentrations of capital, greater entrenchment of the capitalist system in our society, greater chances for a totalitarian state, and reduced chances of ever destroying said system. As far as actual electoral politics go, Progressives tell me that “at least” Democrats serve to “slow the downward slide” toward a more oppressive, more impoverished, less educated society. My contention, which I will attempt to demonstrate as I write this series, is that Republicans and Democrats each advance an authoritarian agenda towards a totalitarian, capitalist state, albeit each in their own specific way, each advancing a different part of the same agenda.

“There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.” ~ George Orwell, 1984

 Coming To Terms With Being A Minority: Yeah, I’m One Of Those Pesky Libertarians

“The truth, indeed, is something that mankind, for some mysterious reason, instinctively dislikes. Every man who tries to tell it is unpopular, and even when, by the sheer strength of his case, he prevails, he is put down as a scoundrel.” ~ H.L. Mencken

Part of the reason why I can only get along with Progressives to a point is that we have different long-term goals: I seek to abolish The State, while Progressives seek to tame The State, make it more humane, and cause it to serve the working class. This brings about wildly different conclusions in terms of strategy and in what types of economic policies are proposed.

So I am stuck seeking alliances in odd places if I truly want to make a difference in the world, and this tends to create even more tension between myself and my Progressive friends, since they tend not to approve of my “other” political allies. My only other choice would be to simply “swallow it” and go along with my statist left friends as they make bad proposal after bad proposal, and what few good proposals they make, they try to “sell” to the American public in completely the wrong way. I will have to keep smiling and quietly nodding my head at the rank-and-file Progressives in appreciation of their passion, compassion, and intent as they spout off completely wrong-headed rhetoric when it comes to the role of government, about monetary policy, about government spending, and about how to fix a recession. I will have to shut my mouth and listen to condemnation after condemnation of ideas that are only “wrong” because they came from people they didn’t “approve” of, even when these ideas would serve their agenda even better with just a little minor tweaking, or in some cases, no tweaking at all.

So my message in this series will be a negative, critical one, aimed right between The Left’s eyes. However, it is not meant to be mean-spirited or insulting. My hope is that this series of articles will provoke new discussions on what is good Progressive policy that actually makes “progress” and what is not. I will present a number of very specific ideas on a wide range of issues, primarily economic issues, but also crossing over into social issues that have economic implications that tie into the economic issues I am talking about. Some of my recommendations will undoubtedly be discovered to be incorrect, or not fully thought out, but as long as the discussion is revived and sacred cows of the New Deal and the prosperous 1950′s and 1960′s are made a little less sacred and untouchable, I will have done my job, and a new way of thinking that is both more sound and more reasoned will begin to emerge, along with better tactics for winning the propaganda war against The Right. I am thinking that one of the best ways to get this across is to demonstrate what an actual agenda that makes progress would look like, if I were to choose to use The State as a means of accomplishing real social change, so that my comrades understand why I am so frustrated with the current formula and the accompanying rhetoric.

And maybe, just maybe, I can persuade a few of my statist readers that a society that is both libertarian and socialist is not only possible but desirable.

So sit back and enjoy the ride. We’re gonna pretend I was elected president in 2008, and that I had a congress that was willing to cooperate fully.

Ok, stop laughing. Stop. Cut i- STOP!!!!!