From time to time, people note that I don’t seem very impressed by progressivism, both the ideology and its political practice.
What’s going on here?
I sprinkle criticisms of progressivism in lots of posts. But I haven’t put it all in one place. Here’s the basic story. it’s not that I see progressives as hypocrites or failures. Even though, at times, they are both of those things.
Rather, I think progressivism, as an ideology, has inherent problems. First and foremost, it’s an ideology of, by, and for highly educated people in positions of control in society. Often managerial types. In other words, it’s an ideology for Warren supporters.
But it’s not just that the wrong people hold the view. The view centers those people and their concerns, as a class. It’s all about process reform (e.g., Senate filibuster, ending the electoral college, anti-corruption), cultural issues and other ‘radlib‘ issues (e.g., gun control, UBI) and noblesse oblige for the poor. It’s moralistic and unappealing to most people. And it will never build power for working people.
By contrast, socialism is about putting regular people in charge of the things that affect them. It’s about putting ownership and control of resources in the hands of workers. And it’s based on the idea that the people doing the work know best how to do it and should be the ones who benefit from it. Socialists know that no matter how much process reform you put in place, a capitalist system will always feature the exploitation of workers by owners and managers. That’s how capitalism works.
Progressives don’t know this. And often it’s in their interest not to know it. That’s why I’m a socialist, not a progressive.
