dagblog - Comments for "Progressivism And Its Discontents "

Republicans used gay activism

PeraclesPlease — Sun, 10 Apr 2016 17:44:57 +0000

In reply to Progressivism And Its Discontents

Republicans used gay activism in 2004 to drive conservatives to the polls over gay marriage. Considering Kerry lost by only 2.4% (3 million votes) and 35 electoral votes, it almost certainly cost him the election along with numerous state races. Balancing agendas is tough.

Beiner's ideas regarding the

moat — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 01:19:35 +0000

In reply to Thanks for commenting! The

Beiner's ideas regarding the development of political philosophy as a struggle against the enclosure of theocracy are important. I will try to respond to the meaning of revolution as defined by those parameters after mulling it over a bit. If I fail to deliver, it means I could not improve upon his contribution.

In the meantime, I am pretty sure the Freudian perspective is a sharp departure from all that. If one accepts the psychological register, the political philosophies become parallel visions of the development of a single human being. From the ground up, as it were.

Thanks for commenting! The

Danny Cardwell — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 23:44:44 +0000

In reply to The Freud quote reminds me of

Thanks for commenting! The Social Contract and Leviathan are joined at the proverbial hip. The responsibility of the individual to the collective and the collective to the individual is a political and philosophical Rorschach test that, in my opinion, shapes much of the public discourse we have about the role of government. A few years ago I went to a talk given by a professor friend who was teaching Ronald Beiner's book Civil Religion. In his text Beiner gave a great treatment on how a society can strive towards a more Rousseauean political worldview. One problem "revolutionaries" face is that they seek revolution while remaining inside of the same symbolic order. The French Revolution changed how France was governed; the American Revolution did the same. Today's revolutionaries want change inside the same system. It seems at odds with history.

The Freud quote reminds me of

moat — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 22:19:26 +0000

In reply to Progressivism And Its Discontents

The Freud quote reminds me of the often discussed differences between Hobbes and Rousseau.
Hobbes saw the civic life beginning at the level of an individual willing to lay down arms in exchange for ending the war of each against all others.
Rousseau proposed there was a natural disposition to bond with others that was buried by the instruments that form States and other institutions that tend to get Capitalized when referring to them.
How the "primal scene" is understood to unfold leads to very different understandings of history and what causes events.

Thanks Danny. As always,

HSG — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 17:50:51 +0000

In reply to Progressivism And Its Discontents

Thanks Danny. As always, good work and I agree with your conclusion. I think what frustrates many on the left is the sense that the Democratic establishment has largely abandoned poor, working, and middle-class Americans who are economically worse off than they were 40 years ago. Arguments that Republicans are that much worse, while true, can come off as insensitive to this fact or simply uncaring.

Thanks for another excellent

rmrd0000 — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 14:25:32 +0000

In reply to Progressivism And Its Discontents

Thanks for another excellent post. At the end of the day, most Progressives will vote for the Democratic candidate . I do think that when some of us hear the word "revolution" certain images come to mind because we know the history of risking life and limb to merely take seats at a Democratic convention. We remember murders covered up by legally impaneled juries. We remember bombings of homes and churches. We see no current revolution but empty rhetoric.

The racists have destroyed the Voting Rights Act and we bury one of the lead racists on the Supreme Court with honors. It took murders captured on video to build enough angers to vote out prosecutors in Chicago and Cleveland who allowed allegations of murders by police to go unchallenged. Progress is hard.

Beware the man who says that he will lead a revolution that he has done nothing to create.