October 24, 2024

"The Progressive Moment Is Over/Four reasons their era has come to an end."

Writes Ruy Teixeira (at Liberal Patriot).

The 4 reasons:

1. Loosening restrictions on illegal immigration was a terrible idea and voters hate it...

2. Promoting lax law enforcement and tolerance of social disorder was a terrible idea and voters hate it....

3. Insisting that everyone should look at all issues through the lens of identity politics was a terrible idea and voters hate it....

4. Telling people fossil fuels are evil and they must stop using them was a terrible idea and voters hate it....

That made me think of this TikTok I saw today, a woman describing what she thinks is "a new breed of conservatives": 

@thajordanhall I think im a mix of a lot of things but lean right. Tell me what you are and where you’re from! ♥️🇺🇸#trump2024🇺🇸 #conservativesoftiktok ♬ original sound - Jordan ✨ relatable + momx3

52 comments:

stutefish said...

Everything about that resonates with me, except for using TikTok as a communications medium.

tim in vermont said...

The math on providing generous benefits... maybe... to everybody who manages to cross the border by hook or by crook in a world with 8 or 9 billion people, well that part will never add up.

tcrosse said...

5. Telling people to defer to their self-appointed betters was a terrible idea and voters hate it....

Original Mike said...

Yeah, I remember was the era of big government was over…

Leland said...

That’s a great start in recognizing some of the problems. I do notice nothing about women no longer being determined by biology.

Lilly, a dog said...

Not so fast. We're about to find out whether enough voters hate terrible ideas.

Big Mike said...

Agreed.

Mason G said...

Voters? Or marked ballots?

Ampersand said...

Precisely. These bad ideas (just like big government) got traction for structural reasons in our culture. An election may be a setback, but the same educational and religious institutions, nonprofits, civil service, mainstream media powers, and DEI offices will not only persist, but prosper. Let's consider the likelihood that any reasonably articulate seemingly competent generic Democrat (Klobuchar, Shapiro) would have beaten DJT and further installed the leftwing base of the Democratic Party as the immovable status quo.

If DJT wins, he will owe it to the accident that the Democrats had no choice but to nominate a plainly vacuous nonentity.

I try to imagine some singular event that could change the drift toward decay and failure. The only things that come to mind are horrible to contemplate.

Ice Nine said...

"New Conservative"? Ahem, she's a libertarian.

Sebastian said...

The progressive movement is not over. It got institutionalized. Identity politics and DEI, climate change subsidies and mandates, immigration dysfunction and future invasion are baked in. The nice new conservatives are too nice and there are not enough of them.

Original Mike said...

Fill in the blank and the voters hate it. Yet the electorate is 50/50. The media really is worth 20 points.

Original Mike said...

We're everywhere!

wendybar said...

They hate America, and everything in it. Why do you think Hussein wanted to fundamentally transform it??

Mason G said...

From the link:

Noah Smith: "But I have to say that I now doubt the practical effectiveness of some of the policies I embraced in previous years. Others still seem like good ideas, but I’ve been dismayed at their botched implementation where they were tried."

Shorter Noah: "Real socialism has never been tried."

D.D. Driver said...

The "new" version of conservative sounds an awful lot like the classical definition of "liberal."

Kathryn51 said...

I almost feel sorry for good ole' Ruy T. His 2002 book "The Emerging Democratic Majority" was considered prescient and ground-breaking at the time. [From Wikipedia: ". . the most widely discussed political book of that year and generated praise across the political spectrum, from George Will on the right to E.J. Dionne on the left. It was selected as one of the best books of the year by The Economist magazine."].

But, truly, I don't feel sorry for him because his book was all about "identity" and the assumption that your race would determine your politics, not the economy; not safety; not schools. As for Tik-tok lady? I find 80% compatible and that's how one builds consensus.

Mikey NTH said...

Let me add #5: Being a scowling, scolding, sour-puss schoolmarm lecturing people All The Time about their failings isn't how you sell an idea.

rhhardin said...

I doubt it's gone. It was from feminization (the most feminine opinion rules) and that's not going to stop.

Hassayamper said...

Pretty much everything advocated by "progressives" and other collectivists is unsustainable for more than one long human lifespan.

Communism barely made it to 70 years before collapsing. The social-democrat Eurozone is deindustrializing and lying supine before a barbarian invasion. The massive edifice of free government healthcare in Canada and the UK is foundering. Our own Social Security fund, not even 90 years old, will wither and die without confiscatory new taxes that the young will refuse to pay.

At all times and in all places, politicians simply cannot resist buying votes with other peoples' money, and no schemes that allow one group of people to live at the expense of another's labor will ever be sustainable. Much suffering must ensue before we learn this lesson.

I fear we never will, though. As long as people are lazy, selfish, and stupid, the dream of socialism will never die. There's nobody quite as greedy as a lazy leftist who wants the government to take money from other people and give it to him just for existing. They are the most worthless and evil people in the world.

gilbar said...

as the Most Famous Democrat, Famously said:
It's NOT who votes that counts.. It's WHO COUNTS the votes

gilbar said...

Yes, you should Think about that..
Also think about.. The "new" version of leftist sounds an awful lot like "Communist"

Mason G said...

"I fear we never will, though. As long as people are lazy, selfish, and stupid, the dream of socialism will never die. There's nobody quite as greedy as a lazy leftist who wants the government to take money from other people and give it to him just for existing. They are the most worthless and evil people in the world."

You could try telling that to Bernie Sanders. Fair warning- he owns several houses (more than he had when he attached himself to the government teat), so it might take a little time to track him down.

Original Mike said...

Lefty policies are a ratchet. Trump needs to go medieval on the executive branch, but he won't.

Enigma said...

The ONE underlying reason why it's over is that the left demanded to have their cake and eat it too. Living an Apple-device-jet-set-remote-work-nomad-coastal home-luxury-vegan-food-electric-car-free-sex-free-marijuana-no-talent-equity-bend-every-rule-for-personal-gain lifestyle is fully incompatible with every functional leftist (aka "progressive") success since the Great Depression.

The progs of 100 years ago focused on stuff like getting rid of contaminated meat, slowing the spread of natural viruses (not covering up lab leaks), finding jobs for the downtrodden, conducting genuine science rather than spewing Fauchian dogma, etc. Ralph Nader and Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes were proto-nannies but 'sincerely' tried to make things functionally better.

The only thing constant about the political left is change. They routinely move away from optimal stable solutions in favor of inferior but NEW shiny objects. It's what they do.

Clever Pseudonym said...

Social Justice is the sacred belief system of American liberals and it fails in the political realm because its goals/ideas aren't really political—the affairs of the state—but social and religious. Things like open the jails and open the borders were obviously foolish in the real world, but Progressives have their eyes on heaven not on Earth. The best analogy I can think of is that Social Justice works in the same way as wearing a crucifix once worked—as a way to display you're on the side of the angels, one of the Good People, righteous and holy—except here it's not about believing in God and Jesus but about signalling your moral commitment to the "oppressed underdog" unlike those other evil bigots over there. Social Justice is the ultimate luxury symbol of Conspicuous Compassion, and as long as signalling that you're a xenophile not a xenophobe is mandatory for entree into liberal society and institutions, it may change shape but it is far from done.

Josephbleau said...

The four items listed are programs where a minuscule number of people benefit greatly while leaving the vast majority worse off. Tennessee Coates is rich, and black female organizational management grads are in good shape. Third world immigrants who live in NYC hotels are ok. The poor of Englewood are ignored.

But the only way to help everyone is for people to cast their bucket down where they are. We need to allow the people of the world to develop their own riches. Whitey tried to go overseas and improve the poor, and we know how that worked. In 1850 Ohio was full of subsistence agriculturalists.

Let 8 billion candles glow.

But, But, you want the west to be rich while the rest of the world is poor?

A man is a slave when he is dependent on eating what he is given.

Mason G said...

"Ralph Nader ... was a proto-nanny but 'sincerely' tried to make things functionally better."

From Politico (not a right-wing outfit):

"On this day in 1972, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released the results of a two-year study that concluded that Chevrolet’s 1960-63 Corvair models were at least as safe as comparable models of similar cars sold during in the same period. The report contradicted charges lodged by Ralph Nader, a leading consumer advocate."

Doesn't matter what you're trying to do, good intentions are worthless when they generate (or are based on) bad data.

Rusty said...

It is. I quit telling people I'm a classic liberal because they don't know what that means. The vast majority of people in this country don't know any history, let alone their own history.

Rusty said...

Mason G. My brother had a 62 corvair. It was fun to drive. Now they're a collector market and good luck trying to find parts. Anybody remember the Corvair junkyard where the Rt. 14 off ramp is now?

PM said...

5. Changing your sex w/o changing your sex.

Paul From Minneapolis said...

Great. The progressive movement has lost. Has anyone told basically all the public schools and universities about this?

Dixcus said...

Tik-Tok isn't a communications medium. It is a drug. It's entire design is a dopamine delivery system.

AI is the real threat.

Dixcus said...

Shhhh ... we need new wage slaves. My Social Security check isn't going to write itself.

Dixcus said...

Women evolved to lecture toddlers. They can't fight their genetics.

Moondawggie said...

We should give credit where credit is due: Ruy at least recognizes the stupidity and failures of his progressive brethren's policies, and he isn't afraid to point it out publicly. If only more progressives had his objectivity and open-mindedness...

rehajm said...

Yeah nah. They’re gonna keep shoving it on humanity. All in means just that…

john mosby said...

“We love our pew pews in this house.” That is great! I hope she has a sign outside in the same color scheme and font as the “In this house we…” signs.

JSM

J Scott said...

Don't forget to add deinstitutionalization to the list of progressive failures. Well intentioned but as always, the devil is in the implementation details. Directly leading to the vagrancy issues on the streets of our major cities.

Mason G said...

Unfortunately, the only message they'll take from this is to push their ideas harder next time.

john mosby said...

J Scott, I thought deinstitutionalization was a bipartisan effort. For instance, didnt then-Gov Reagan lead it in Cali? The different-drummer 60s liberals didnt want to keep people locked up for having a different perspective, maaan; while the libertarian Rs didnt trust the government to fix anyone’s brain. Meanwhile the fiscal conservatives liked saving the money, but little did they know the New Dealers were licking their chops at fhe prospect of an army of social workers to manage the released patients in the community.

It was sort of a multidimensional baptist-bootlegger alliance.

JSM

Dixcus said...

6. Cutting little boys' weiners off.

Pretty sure this was when the Progressive Movement died.

gspencer said...

If that 1787 document were obeyed as written, fedgov would 5% of its present size and we, the productive, would be better for it.

320Busdriver said...

These are the things that prompted me to dig into the excellent free offerings of Hillsdales online courses. Specifically Constitution 101/102 & The American Left: From Liberalism to Despotism.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Real progressivism has never been tried

320Busdriver said...

On the Tik Tok, some cognitive dissonance

“You want to take a poke in the arm, go for it, just don’t make me do it.”

“Parents should be in charge of their kids health care”

So what are we up to on the childhood vax schedule? 70 plus??
Now, from people I know with young kids, most pediatricians offices will show you the door if you even think about questioning the docs on their jabs…
The CDC is still recommending CV19 vax for kids 6 months & up..crazy

Barry Dauphin said...

5. Not only lying about Biden‘s cognitive decline, but telling people who could see it with their own eyes that they were crazy.

Aggie said...

"The reports of the demise of the 'Progressive Moment' are greatly exaggerated..."

Dave Begley said...

My big question is why did the Dems think these were good ideas in the first place?

Dave Begley said...

You got that right, sister.

Earnest Prole said...

Populism is what happens when elites screw the pooch.

wildswan said...

The reason the progs took over the universities is that they got on the selection committees as a majority and began excluding conservatives. Qualifications did not matter. So you see, in the case of a state university like UW-Madison the legislature can investigate the working of these committee. How come in an evenly divided state like Wisconsin the selection committees for the different departments are never able to find qualified conservatives - not even among the graduates of UW-Madison. You see, all political donations from the our state universities going to the Dems. Why? The answer is simple bigotry. The left will only hire its own. They'll take conservatives' tax money, they'll take conservatives' tuition money but they won't take conservatives. They must be forced to explain their criteria. They must be asked why 50% of their students are conservatives but 98% of their hires are leftys? I think the state university budgets should be cut by 50% by the state legislatures because the universities are only educating half their students to the level where the universities would hire them. So the universities only need half the staff. And while the legislatures are at it, they should defund the whole of the Comic Book aka the English Literature Department. You don't need to go to university to learn how to read comic books.