Why We Have to Fight, Part 1
I’m seeing lots of posts from folks on the center-left about how people in rural PA or Michigan or Tennessee or Texas don’t like some part of the Sanders or Warren agenda. It’s one thing to worry about the electoral consequences of these proposals. I will address that question another time. But I’m concerned that people who should be on our side are overstating the electoral problems in part because they think it’s somehow illegitimate for us to put forward ideas that aren’t embraced by almost everyone. This is a long-standing problem among liberals. There is a strand of liberalism that is afraid of political power and will do everything it can to avoid exercising it. This same strand of thought makes it hard for liberals to bear disagreement. That strand is connected to another that vastly overestimates the power of argument-—as opposed to numbers and organizing—in politics. Robert Frost… Continue reading