Something else to add, is that, as much as possible ( sometimes it isn't possible ) we like to save the good from our heritage despite modern-day corruptions of that heritage. After all, we al have our heroes and noble causes from history. People identify with these heroes and causes. They are a source of pride and of high ideals. It would be foolish to toss this away. So, the question is : What,. about original Progressivism, about early Populism, about the very early Anti-Federalists ( proto-Libertarians , etc ), can we identify as good and noble and worth renewed life ? Necessarily we edit out the bad stuff, or obsolete stuff. But we really do want to honor our heritage in all ways open to us. Think of it as harnessing the value of history for purposes of the future. Billy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ 11/23/2011 4:28:54 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
Hi Kevin, On Nov 7, 2011, at 4:05 AM, Kevin Kervick wrote: > I would like the reader to know this has been a personal transformation for me. I have evolved from a wide-eyed professional helper who was very much connected to the progressive political orthodoxy that under-girds much of the professional culture in human services, to a right-leaning American Communitarian who believes the Progressive Movement in America is one of the root causes of community devolution and personal unhappiness. Could you clarify what _you_ mean by Communitarian? Around here we associate the term with Amitai Etzioni's third-way, but that seems very different than your classical liberalism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitai_Etzioni Also, did I miss your reply to Billy's questions about Progressivism? I would say most Radical Centrists would support Teddy Roosevelt-era progressivism: women suffrage, child labor laws, trust-busting. Are you against those political innovations? We completely agree that progressivism as it is today is ideologically sterile and culturally destructive. But we don't want to roll the clock back to before the Civil War, much less to the original Constitution or even the Articles of Confederation. How far back do you want to go? >From our perspective, the Civil Rights Movement was the last good idea the Left had. And a very good one, though it carried a lot of baggage in the form of affirmative action and socialistic tendencies. Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, however nobly intentioned, is probably when it jumped the shark. That said, Radical Centrism is inherently progressive in the sense that we believe we *can* do better, because frankly there *has* been so much genuine political innovation in the last two centuries that (despite the cost and downside) we consider our political environment far better (in most, though not all ways) far better than what existed prior to the 1970's. In particular, we believe that the role of government is not merely to enforce the law and defend the borders. Rather, it is to nurture an intellectual/esthetic/relational/physical *commons* which allows individuals to flourish. That is true of all levels of governance, from the federal (or even supra-national, like the United Nations) down to the local park district and book club. Yes, maintaining such a commons is *hard* -- it can easily degenerate into freeloading or tyranny -- but it is incredibly powerful. The fact that libertarians deny the relevance of such commons -- despite enormous empirical data about their value -- is one reason we have a hard time taking them seriously. In that sense, we are optimists, in that we believe it is possible to make things much better. But we are also realists, in that we believe there is no easy silver bullet. We believe it will take massive intellectual effort, emotional energy, and moral courage to improve our country, and create a political and cultural commons far better than any that has previous existed (by most, though not all, measures). But we're going to try. How about you? Do you have a positive vision of a richer political system in the future, or is your goal solely to move us back to the Articles of Confederation? -- Ernie P. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
