There is a dominant faction of progressives in the Democratic Party whose identity is limited only to their ideology. An ideology that has an effect, a bit like Janus words. Janus words are words that have developed contradictory meanings such as the word “fast”, meaning moving quickly, or staying put.
To further the discussion of progressive’s contradictory nature, consider few things upset progressives more than being told they are not oppressed while they themselves move rapidly to oppress anyone in disagreement with their agenda. Bearing in mind that progressives do not understand life’s trade-offs, they define free speech as their right to interrupt others and stop them from speaking, because it is offensive to them. Yet, the very nature of free speech is that it is guaranteed to offend someone.
The illogical nature behind progressive’s ideology, where they seem to know more and more about less and less, begins with motive. Progressives believe that, not only a person’s acts and words are subject to their interpretation and approval but also a person’s thoughts. Progressives claiming the high moral ground believe they are justified in their right to police your thoughts, words and deeds, render their verdict and administer their Red Queen’s justice. And regardless of socio-economic demographics, progressives act out as elitist looking and talking down to others. It is a waste of time pointing to their double standard because they deny it as pure fabrication, either because of their unkempt ignorance, willful incuriosity or to further their agenda.
Progressives compose their own vocabulary that sets them apart and provides ongoing opportunity as a means of controlling their narrative. Suddenly being aware or enlightened is being “woke”. And for a progressive being “woke” means things such as believing that identifying as either a man or woman is not expansive enough. No, a “woke” individual applying sophistry would resort to their invented word “cisgender” because it allows control of the narrative, and an opportunity for progressives to declare a person’s right to define their gender identity, as if nature’s binary code can simply be ignored. Even the word sex, in the world of progressives, in and of itself, has been erased and replaced with gender including on questionnaires, employment applications, etc. because it provides ample opportunity to spread their false narrative.
In same sex discussion, as with most issues argued by progressives, count on the misapplication of moral equivalencies. Aristotle said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Yet when it comes to the progressives’ LGBT, #MeToo Movement, racism, socialism agenda, people better be prepared to take their side and say yes to this faction or suffer their consequence. There is an extensive list of decent people targeted by these progressives whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed because of simply acknowledging a different point of view. Progressives ignore, at the nation’s peril, the wisdom of the political axiom that “public debate must be met”, that is engaged. They ignore that in our democracy, we only punish people for what they do, not for what they think.
In that same vein, progressives’ implicit position is that there are and never have been any decent white people, especially white men, declaring that the scourge of mankind is “whiteness”. This begs the question, what should we do with imperfect history and imperfect heroes? The answer from those “woke” progressives is to first execrate Western civilization. From Christopher Columbus to the colonization of America, to our war of independence and moving forward progressives single-minded view of white Europeans is only as oppressors but never as fighting against oppression. Those so called “woke” would have you believe that slavery coincided with the beginning of America’s colonization, willfully ignoring that slavery has existed across the world since the beginning of mankind, including in America before its discovery. William Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past” apparently progressives take that quote to heart as they eagerly re-write history but only from an unbalanced and one- sided point of view. Progressives appear not to be able to grasp the complex relationship between existence, reality and the mores, customs and beliefs of a specified time period, and ham-fistedly endeavor to compare and apply them in today’s world.
Progressives in explaining human history focus only on the negative ignoring the nature of people to be good or bad or both at different times in their lives. And they do not subscribe to the belief that fairness dictates that a person’s life should be judged in its entirety and all are afforded the opportunity for redemption. More importantly they fail to acknowledge that history has recorded that this nation has always triumphed over evil. Progressives dismiss out of hand white European colonist as only evil and declare them persona non grata, while ignoring their manifest contributions to society despite facing great adversity as they cut new roads to tame this wilderness. They ignore the fact that but for white European colonist America would never have come into existence and that without English common law, and the magna carta as guides America would not have been formed as a democracy and certainly never attained it super power status. America has stood as a beacon of hope, a country to emulate and one where many people desire to immigrate.
Progressive’s ideology is also contradictory in that it is an ideology of regression and depression. A factor attributing to progressives, and their inevitable demise is susceptibility toward what experts refer to as “choice supportive bias”. This is the tendency for people to defend a choice even if it is clear that they made a bad choice. The ongoing resistance movements against Donald Trump including their engaging in casual exaggeration to write the Articles of Impeachment is a clear example. Here we find House Speaker Pelosi for a second time make reference to” we have to pass it to see what is in it.” “We have to pass Obamacare to see what is in it.” We have to write, and vote on the Articles of Impeachment before we know what is in them”. These progressives would have fared better had they attack Trump’s foreign policy as reckless rather than inventing impeachable offenses that are not even crimes. Did these progressives really believe that the Senate Judiciary circus created by Democrats against Brett Kavanaugh was really entertaining and impressive? And the Democratic Congress abdication of their duty and responsibility during the 2017 Tax Reform pointed out that they rather resist than contribute in a positive manner. The dominant faction of progressives in the Democrat Party have the power, leaving little room, if any, in the Democratic center. So, no matter what Democrat candidate survives s/he will be forced to acquiesce to this radical faction’s demands. This faction continues to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Their ready, fire, aim leadership is a concern. And they never seem to understand that there is no education in the second kick of a mule. Governing is not child’s play, but progressives ’actions as they continue to operate from guilt, hate, shame and revenge resembles it. Their agenda is full of cul-de-sacs such as their push for socialism. As Ronald Reagan reminds us, socialism only works in two places. “Heaven where they don’t need it and hell where they already have it.” It is troubling to see that, feelings forms their foundation and directs progressives’ political discourse and social values. Their continued blind adherence to “choice supportive bias,” and their rejection of logical and moral imperatives which are needed to govern responsibly and to render decisions with reason, discipline and objectivity makes them unlikely to govern responsibly and successfully. The 2020 campaign season belongs to the Republicans.
Villager Dennis Petrucelli is a frequent contributor to Villages-News.com.