progressive

I think I found the bright side to Donald Trump. This election has left Conservatism as the only political philosophy not really represented. Even the Bernie Bros have a lot of their biggest concerns represented in the newly minted Democratic Party platform. But real Conservatives? Who speaks for them?

I (and others) am starting to think it’s the Democratic Party.

People keep talking about how this Donald Trump candidacy is reshuffling traditional party allegiances into a never-before-seen arrangement. And yet, watching the Democratic National Convention speeches last night from Tim Kaine, Joe Biden, and especially Barack Obama, it looks like a reemergence of the blue collar, Southern Democrat.

Maybe, rather than a reshuffling, there is a course correction: a return to politics as it was prior to Nixon, Goldwater, and Johnson. Perhaps (dare I say?) this is actually a moment for normalization of American politics?
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This is a comment I encountered recently during the whole debt ceiling debacle and the Oslo attacks. The commenter was responding to recent articles by David Brooks (a conservative, though more of a “classical” variety than “neocon”) and Canadian conservative blogger David Frum, both of which argued that “liberals” and “progressives” have legitimate reasons for thinking the way they do, however misguided or idealistic they may seem. These articles were (wisely, I think) pointing out what is being pointed out more and more nowadays–those that disagree with us are not our moral enemies. But unfortunately, many–especially many Tea Party folks–have turned politics into an almost religious crusade to bring about some absolute “moral” transformation that cannot be done in step-wise or considerate fashion while working with those that disagree with us. It must be total; it must be complete; it must be now; and damned be anyone that thinks otherwise. And one more point before we go on: as far as political theory goes, I’m probably a little closer to the ideas of a Tea Partier than a Progressive, so this has nothing to do with what this commenter thinks politically, but rather what they think of those that disagree with them on (of all things) politics.