Showing posts with label Progressivism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Progressivism. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Close connections between President's SOTU speech and Bernie Sanders campaign




Barack Obama closed the last year of his Presidency with an excellent SOTU speech that reverberated through all the accomplishments of his seven years and the conflict that he has experienced with the GOP Congress in opposing almost everything he has proposed. No hostility, just hard facts that should put Republicans on notice that this will probably gain momentum with the new Democratic President in January 2017.

He did not identify who the next President will be but he indicated the United States is now on a course of Progressivism, one that is supported by the American public, and one that must be advanced in the future. Obama also touched on some topics he felt were priorities for this country that have been championed by Bernie Sanders for the last 30 years and are major thrusts of his campaign for President.

The income and wealth inequality, something Joe Biden praised him for saying this was new territory for Hillary Clinton. Getting big money out of politics. Establishing a living wage, increasing the minimum to $15.00 per hour. Creating decent paying jobs. Strengthening and expanding Social Security, to name only a few. Clinton has picked up on many of these issues, attempting to make them her ideas. But the voting public is beginning to get wise, as they become more familiar with the Senator from Vermont.

President Obama has said he won't endorse one of the Democratic candidates. After tonight's SOTU, it won't be necessary.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

DECIDING WHAT A PROGRESSIVE IS


Progressivism started as a social movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, eventually becoming a political movement. Teddy Roosevelt actually spearheaded the cause after taking office in 1901, mixing this with GOP conservatism. He said most everyone wants some progress but both Republicans and Democrats were slow to actually implement it. Roosevelt took it a step farther declaring he "always believed that wise progressivism and wise conservatism go hand in hand." Progressivism was highlighted in the Industrial Revolution, later when technology completely changed the way we do business. It was recently in 2014 that Andrew Tillett-Saks described a Progressive in Counterpunch, as one believing in a restrained free market, trade unions, taxing the wealthy, the nationalization of essential social needs such as education and healthcare, strong public welfare programs, higher minimum wage requirement and increased unionization, and the support of the poor.

The difference between a liberal and a progressive, at least as far as I see it; first I would extend the free market restraints to serious regulations on corporations. As far as taxing wealth, liberals have been way too lax on this in recent years. And liberals have been far too conceding on the establishment of private schools at the sake of the public school system. Bleeding liberals open welfare to the point of dispensing money without any control which I think is counterproductive. There hasn't been a sufficient drive in liberal politics to increase the minimum wage and to do more for the poor, both of which Progressives feel would improve the economy. And then there is my favorite of all, gun control, which some liberals even vote against.

Believe me, there are other differences that reside on an individual basis but the key factor here is that Progressives aren't saddled with a radical ideology like the Republican right. That's why we're called Progressives.

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