I am a very Progressive/Liberal student studying Political Science and History at College. And when debating with many of my conservative friends I find that even their most conservative views are seen to be in the 'mainstream' of America. However wehn putting forth some of my more Liberal and, dare I say, Socialist, viewpoints i am seen as being radical and well outside of what is acceptable. I ofetn wonder why this is and the only conclusion that i can come to is that Conservatives have been able to set the rules for what is acceptable and what is not. People like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity flaunt their conservatism with glee, and yet Keith Olbermann is afraid to even call himself a liberal (which he clearly is). Rachel Maddow hes frequently come out and said she is a liberal, which now has her clearly in the crosshairs of Fox News and the like.
And the case is the same when it comes to those actually in office. Conservative lawmakers seem to be allowed free range to flaunt their free market, no regulations, tax cuts for the rich, big military viewpoints, while the Green Jobs Czar Van Jones is ousted from his job for even having 'Socialist' ideas. President Obama is branded as a socialist (which he clearly isnt) as if this would be direct grounds for impeachment. So why is this allowed to happen?
There are a few reasons; one is that people in this country are grossly mis-informed on what Socialism actually is. This was shown to me during a speech I gave on socialism in my Public Speaking class. When asked who thought socalism was a bad thing nearly everyone raised their hands. When asked who knew what socialism actually was, only one person braved a response, which was "What the Soviet Union did". Again the fault for this clearly falls on the shoulder of Progressives for allowing people like Glenn Beck to decide what the definition of socialism is. For a more informative take i have provided a link of Professor Noam Chomsky talking about the subject.
Another large reason is that Progressives have been afraid to stand up for what they believe in; their timidity is palpable. I find it interesting and amusing that when Liberal became a dirty word, left leaning people decided to call themselves Progressives when in fact that label has a far more leftist conotation. I have seen and heard very few Progressives come out and state that they are not at all ashamed of their viewpoints, and then put those viewpoints out there so that we may measure them against conservative ones. Instead they try to make them as watered down as possible and, when called out by conservatives, run and hide. This of course is a poor way of earning public respect and indeed makes them look like they have something to hide.
I believe the time is long overdue for Progressives and Liberals and even Socialists to come out strongly with their views and put them proudly next to the conservative ones; only then will the public be able to gauge what they feel will work best for them, and only then can the clearly superior Progressive ideas take hold and move the playing field to the left.
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