Progressivism in the United States

Progressivism in the United States

Overview

Progressivism refers to two political phenomena:

Populist Political Progressivism

Historically, this represents distrust of concentrations of power in the hands of politicians, corporations, families, and special interest groups as represented by the candidacies of economic philosopher Henry George and the Single Tax movement, President Theodore Roosevelt and the Bull-Moose Party, the Cleveland mayoral administration of Tom L. Johnson, Louisiana Governor Huey Long and the Share Our Wealth movement, and in the early nineties by consumer lawyer Ralph Nader, billionaire Presidential candidate Ross Perot, and his Reform Party. In modern terminology this is generally called Populism, which can range from the political left to the political right.

Ideological or Modern Left Progressivism

This is a cluster of political, activist, and media organizations ranging from left-liberal to democratic socialism. Significant media include The Progressive magazine, and the American Prospect. Modern Left Progressivism includes several political figures including Bernie Sanders, Barbara Boxer, Russ Feingold, Dennis Kucinich, and Peter Camejo. Also in this category are many leaders in the women's movement, labor movement, anti-globalization movement, American civil rights movement, environmental movement, immigrant rights movement, and gay and lesbian rights movement. Other well-known progressives include Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Greg Palast, George Lakoff, Michael Lerner, Suzanne Pharr, and Urvashi Vaid.

Media voices for the Progressive Movement in the United States include Barbara Ehrenreich, Al Franken, Amy Goodman, Thom Hartmann, Jim Hightower, Molly Ivins, Rachel Maddow, Stephanie Miller, Mike Malloy, Randi Rhodes, Betsy Rosenberg, and Ed Schultz.

Modern day issues for "progressives" can include: ecology, pollution control, publicly-funded healthcare, cessation of the death penalty, affordable housing, proportional representation, instant runoff voting, fusion candidates, a vital Social Security System, alternative (sustainable) energy sources, "smart growth" urban development, and unicameral legislature (closing state senates and the U.S. Senate as per a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court decision against state senate districts representing land rather than representing people).

Examples of the broad range of progressive texts include: "New Age Politics" by Mark Satin; "Why Americans Hate Politics" by E.J. Dionne, Jr.; "Community Building: Renewing Spirit & Learning in Business" edited by Kazimierz Gozdz; "Ecopolitics: Building a Green Society" by Daniel Coleman; and "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich.

The work of Ralph Nader reflects a blend of progressive left politics, consumerism, and right-wing populism reminiscent of the historic aspects of Populist Political Progressivism.

History

In the United States, the term progressive was first applied to politics in the Progressive Era of the early 20th Century, at which time politicians of both the Democratic and Republican parties (see Theodore Roosevelt, Bull-Moose Republicans, and the United States Progressive Party) began to pursue social, environmental, political, and economic reforms. Chief among these aims was the pursuit of improved industrial working conditions, improved living conditions for the poor, decreased corruption in politics, and environmental conservation.

Progressivism at the turn of the twentieth century was largely a bipartisan effort (see William Jennings Bryan, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Robert La Follette), while today's Progressives are primarily Democrats. Later Progressive movements include the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the government social welfare policies of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]'s New Deal in the 1930s, i.e., (Civilian Conservation Corps, Tennessee Valley Authority, & the WPA).

The Four Original Goals of Progressivism:

1. Protecting social welfare - YMCA
2. Promoting moral improvement - prohibition of alcohol
3. creating economic reform - change of individual behavior
4. fostering Efficiency Movement - "Taylorism"

See also

• Progressive logic
• United States Progressive Party
• The Center for American Progress
• Progressive Christianity
• American liberalism

External links

• The Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank
• "What Is Progressive?", AlterNet opinion piece, July 25th 2005
• Common Dreams list of progressive websites by popularity
• The Empathic Science Institute-The starting point for a progressive methodology for political science
• The Roosevelt Institution, a progressive student think tank
• ProgressiveSpace a progressive myspace-type alternative
• Progressive U, a student political weblog