Krugman to Progressives: To Arms!

Too many blog updates for one day, I think. This one's the last. Slate has an excellent editorial by Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called, "Progressives: To Arms!" It is worth reading: Urges Democrats to seek to be more than "anti-Bush," but to roll back the forces which brought Bush to power. It also had a nice distinction between liberals and progressives: one is about values and the other about actions. "If you think everyone should have universal healthcare, you are a liberal. If you are working to bring about universal healthcare, you are a progressive."

I like that. I also think progressives (in which camp, I pitch my tent) are more focused on racial and economic justice, equality of the sexes (and sexual orientation), environmental protection, and a foreign policy guided by a commitment to democracy, human rights, and international law. Liberals care about such matters, but are more focused on abortion rights, civil liberties construed in a very individualistic fashion (tolerance and license), and lifestyle issues. Progressives may or may not care about such matters, but their heart and soul goes into the fight for social justice for ordinary people, especially economic social justice. A Clintonian liberal can proclaim "welfare state government is over," but a Wellstone-type progressive celebrates and defends the gains of the New Deal and Great Society and wants to take them further!

Read the Krugman article--then roll up your sleeves for the struggle.