As a moderate Democrat, I see progressives as a source of many popular, and arguably necessary, policies. Yet, they often become their own worst enemies. Bold and ambitious political policies energized a faction of the Democratic party, but they also have a tendency to alienate moderate voters. Many in the Democratic camp, find the progressive rallying cries for policies like Medicare for All or defunding the police not just extreme, but recklessly out of touch with political reality, alienating crucial moderate supporters. This extremity causes the party to bleed support, moderates are much more likely to vote for candidates who align with their views. The problem is that keeping the moderate voters means leaving the progressives behind. At some point, the progressives’ frustration becomes understandable. Democrats know they have a very small window to accomplish a very large amount of legislation, so the progressive agenda takes a back seat within the party. After a while, they understandably feel like they are constantly being told “Wait your turn.”
Alarmingly, these self-styled arbiters of moral and political purity display a stark lack of intellectual humility, blatantly dismissing any perspective diverging from their rigid ideological framework. The presentation of issues in a black-and-white manner ignores the nuance or complexities involved. In the process people who have differing opinions are demonized. These oversimplifications encourage less critical thinking and more polarization. There are some personalities who simply engage in superficial activism. Their activism often amounts to nothing more than performative gestures — empty tweets and virtue signaling that achieve little real change, serving only to boost their social media clout. These actions serve the purpose of generating temporary notoriety, praise and validation, but fail to help the systemic problems they aim to champion. The divisiveness, superficial performance, and self-fabricated purity tests do nothing to work towards meaningful solutions.
While they claim to hold individuals accountable, the toxic methods of these progressives are just as destructive, if not more so, than those of our most notorious political adversaries. From my current observation, the vitriol emanating from the progressives is only marginally better than that of MAGA’s. However, with MAGA there is no pretense. They hide behind religion, but anyone with eyes can see they are lying about the application of their faith or that they don’t understand it at all. The progressives’ purity test can be viewed in the same manner, except they know when they are not adhering to their stated beliefs. Progressivism as an ideal is a worthwhile aspiration. As I moderate democrat, I see the value in it, but not at the expense of alienating allies and undermining the good that will be done to acquire the greatness that could be done. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
► Citizen Mooney
