Walking into any given Barnes and Noble, the average pleasure reader is faced with stacks of titles like American Dynasty and Bushwacked, all railing against the actions, policies and general state of being of the Bush administration. While their conservative counterparts like Ann Coulter’s Treason are nearly as prevalent, the sheer quantity of inked vitriol directed towards the president is striking.
The first time I noticed this ever-growing phenomenon, I was quite pleased to see that the nation’s intelligentsia shared my views. Upon actually flipping through several of said tomes, however, my enthusiasm gradually crept away. Hoping for quality, in-depth analysis of the administration’s numerous drastic failings, I instead was greeted with repetitive, tired punditry and screeds that lost all potency in their constant rehashing, leaving me with nothing but trite pap. Authors like Al Franken are bombarding the literary world with volumes of vicious, pseudo-comical and very much warranted assaults on Bush, cabinet officials and Republicans in general, but are undermining their own efforts with their shallow rants.
As an unrepentant socialist, I agree with nearly every criticism offered in books like Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right; but I can’t help noticing that like-minded individuals have been making the same points for the last three years. Sadly, it has even become clich? to accuse the left of having stale arguments, as writer Ted Halstead did so energetically at the Atlantic Monthly’s “The Real State of the Union” event last week. There is no clearer political truth today than the fact that the left, and most egregiously the Democratic party, has become trapped by its own self-satisfaction.
The fundamental flaw in leftist thought is not a matter of policy; it’s a matter of mindsets. Progressive thinkers and activists have, in far too many cases, become more concerned with their political proposals than with the motives behind them. I have met far too many so-called progressives who, had they been born a different ethnicity or sexual orientation, would be just as conservative as their political adversaries. In hashing out answers to policy questions, too many leftists have let their mindsets fall into disrepair. If progressives hope to reconstruct their potency, following and solidarity, they must reexamine the philosophy of progressivism in the first place. Socialists, Marxists, anarchists and straight-laced democrats alike are all in need of a reevaluation of the fundamental political principle that unites them: the need for change in an imperfect system.
I don’t profess to offer a definitive solution; my goal is simply to make my fellow progressives conscious of the issue. Discourse is the only way to reach philosophical clarity; as such, I propose that progressive organizations take some time to analyze and actually debate their own ideals, rather than simply take them for granted. With opposition as easy to decry as the Bush administration, the left has the perfect opportunity to win more followers from the vast centrist quagmire of the national political consciousness. With a new consideration of what it is to be progressive, the left should be able to free its arguments from the typical ivory tower intellectualism and antiquated misconceptions that plague them.
At the same time, this would break down the barrier of inaccessibility that keeps many leftist views from widespread acceptance. For example, if politicians actually took the time to expose the altruistic principles at the heart of socialism, Midwestern housewives might be more inclined to support measures towards universal health care or income tax reform. Reawakening the progressive mindset among leftist groups could open the door to leftist ascendancy by making the left credible again. Maybe eventually, people will even be able to take Al Franken seriously.
Chris Norton is a first year in the College and the Voices Editor of The Georgetown Voice. He’s aware that the creepy guy in the ski mask is checking him out, thank you very much.
