Progressivism today is bashed on repeatedly by right-wing figures such as Dennis Prager, Dave Rubin, Ben Shapiro et. al. The criticisms are similar; that progressives oppose free speech, support communism, are violent, hold evil feminist views, don’t believe in freedom etc. The word ‘regressive’ pops up often, and it is used as a blanket statement to describe progressivism as a whole.
Straw-manning the left has never been so easy!
One of the most common arguments from rightists that I hear all the time is that ‘safe spaces’ and ‘trigger warnings’ are a prime example of left-wing thought. As if, somehow, the 1.8 percent of institutions of higher education that have official policies about the use of trigger warnings are objectively representative of left-wing views.
And then there is the common ‘liberal college students are banning free speech argument’. As another sweeping generalization, statements like these invite further division among the left and right. The high profile Berkeley cancellation of a Milo Yiannopolous event was used as a prime example of supposed student intolerance. Yet, the 150 masked agitators (who were part of a historically problematic anarchist group) that caused 100,000 dollars in damages were not even students at the university. As one student from Berkeley put it:
“It’s a sad irony in the fact that the Free Speech Movement was founded here and tonight, someone’s free speech got shut down. It might have been hateful speech, but it’s still his right to speak”
That, is what progressivism is about.
Of course, you could not have this discussion without mentioning the term ‘social justice warrior’. It originally used to mean an individual who argues about social justice issues on the internet, without necessarily thinking things through, and doing so to raise their own reputation. According to rightists, they’re a little something like this:
Nowadays, however, the definition of a SJW has expanded to include people who talk about social justice issues at protests, not just online, and rightists have also called liberals SJWs for raising legitimate concerns about systematic racism (and here, also here) among other contemporary issues. Although the term SJW may not have always been used as a blanket label on all left-wing thought, it sure seems to be the case now (as the link to the PragerU video demonstrates).
It is pertinent for rightists to have an accurate, basic understanding of what progressivism actually is. Although we may not agree on most things, the truth is that basic rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press etc. are highly valued by both progressives and conservatives. I’ve written this short article to clear up for the right wing what ‘violent’ progressive ideology actually stands for.
Modern progressivism is a reformist, moderately left-wing ideology. It is innately critical of laissez-faire economic policies, and advocates for regulated markets. It stresses the harm in vast social inequalities between the rich and the poor, and generally advocates for a medium to large welfare state to provide a robust safety net for the working class against the rough edges of capitalism. Progressives are also critical of free trade, the big banks, and corporate injustices.
America’s most progressive president
Progressives support a progressive taxation system, and also support increasing taxes on the wealthy. Progressives support increased state intervention, in turn favoring a larger government, to enact domestic policies such as universal healthcare, tuition-free university, public banking, expanding social security, livable minimum wage, environmental protection, campaign finance reform etc.
On social issues, progressives strictly support the philosophy of equality of opportunity and equal protection, so we tend to champion the rights of minority and historically marginalized groups (african-americans, LGBTQ, etc.) while bashing systemic injustices. We are pro-choice, anti-death penalty, anti-interventionist, pro-immigration, pro-pot legalization and pro-secular government. We support free speech, the right to bear arms (although we support heavier restrictions), and basically all the other hallmarks of free societies.
Putting it all together, progressives support social democracy. Social democracy essentially revolves around economic and social justice within the framework of a capitalist economy. Jerry Mander, well-known author and activist, has said that social democracy is “a kind of “hybrid” economics, an active collaboration of capitalist and socialist visions.” Indeed, it is the dominant economic model in the Scandinavian countries, who even have a special name for it – the Nordic model. We can look to the performance of the Nordic model in Scandinavian countries to judge whether it’d be a good idea or not in the United States. What we observe is that the Scandinavian countries consistently top the social progress index, ranking high in education, wealth equity, public and environmental health.
Flags of the Nordic countries
Progressives, therefore, are hardly the violent-SJW regressive anti-free speech mobsters that the right makes them out to be. Progressives share astonishment with rightists at the insanity regressive elements engage in, however, it’s important for rightists not to conflate that sort of behavior as having anything to do with the principles of progressivism and social democracy.
The last thing right wingers want to do, is place themselves in the same echo chambers that they often accuse the left of – if you want to criticize the left, you have every right to do so, but at least know what our politics are first.