The core underlying message of Justice Thomas's brilliant speech: Progressivism is falling apart because it is contrary to the American idea. The argument that matters today is what will replace it.
We need some calm in America. We need to move beyond the "entitlement attitude" and focus on moving forward with the ideas of our founders. We are industrialized, but such an influx of people from other countries who do not want to accept our values have degraded what we have built. New ideas need to pull from basic foundations that those founders, who were braver than today's population, planted for us to grow. Some deep thought and review of potential unintentional outcomes should be taking place. We also need to understand that we as a country are unique, but we also have a rich history and culture. I have always believed that the United States is a place that, despite being a young country, in the context of world history, is intended to be a special place on earth.
I would question the optimism of this piece. Right now, Republicans (who, presumably, are heirs to the principles of the Declaration in the context of this discussion) have a bare majority in the House and the Senate. The share of the vote that Republicans get nationwide is rarely more than 50% - it might be as little as 46% or even less in November. Or perhaps more - perhaps the pessimists are wrong on this score. Perhaps Republicans will eke out a victory after all.
But the Democratic party of today, which is in substance, if not in name, a Socialist party now, will get at least 50% - probably. So keeping the Progressives at bay will require a perfect sequence of consecutive wins. Some states are lost to Progressives/Democrats/Socialists forever, like WA, MA... Some might be lost at some point, and never recover (e.g., AZ, WI). I worry about OH - Vivek does not inspire confidence.
The point of all this is that we are balancing on a knife's edge. One more electoral detour into a Biden 2.0 (for whatever reason - lack of Republican voter enthusiasm in that particular election, lack of money, a strategy that targets the wrong states, a milquetoast Romney-esque candidate that inspires no one, a Dem candidate with more talent than most of them have shown lately, etc.), and we'll get progressivism nation-wide, with a vengeance. Socialism and progressivism are not definitionally the same, but they are fellow travelers.
Socialism is like a cancer - once you get it, it's virtually impossible to fully get it out. And getting it is easy - to millions of people, the *rhetoric* of socialism is tempting. Perhaps socialism in America is waiting for a truly talented demagogue to sell it properly. Think AOC, but with more than two functional neurons in her brain.
I am. And I will be doing what I can, where I am, with what I have. If the rest of us do the same, we will prevail. If not, we'll deserve our wretched fate.
As someone who holds liberal views on social issues while I do not 100% agree with Mr. Tucker and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, I do think there is some truth in what both of them say. I agree the Democratic Party has moved too far and the left in this country has lost its way. They have become all about treating people as groups rather than as individuals, want to the government to adopt downright authoritarian measures to enact their will, want ever stricter laws concerning firearms, want to compel people to use another’s pronouns, want biological males competing in women’s sports and if you don’t agree they compel you using the power of the state to allow it, they shut down free speech down because it’s “harmful” and “bigoted”, they are opposed to religious freedom, they hate capitalism, religion and the nuclear family, say if you have children you’ll destroy the Earth, etc. They have no regard whatever for the Constitution out it’s ideals.
The hard-left Democratic Party of today is run by progressives and leftists like AOC, Zahran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, Graham Platner, Elizabeth Warren, Ro Khanna, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, etc. They couldn’t care less about what our founding fathers wrote in the founding documents only enacting “social and racial justice” whatever that may mean at any given moment. The Democratic Party needs to return to being a liberal rather than progressive party and seek to make positive social change while staying within the bounds of the Constitution. As a liberal on social issues that’s what I believe in. I don’t believe in authoritarian garbage like reparations for slavery, laws that compel pronoun use, suing Christian bakers for discrimination if they don’t bake a cake for a gay wedding, cancel culture, call out culture, Medicare for All, vaccine mandates and mask mandates, tearing down historical statues, banning books, or mandatory gun buybacks. I believe in sensible policies that will make the country a better place like universal background checks, civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, disability rights, environmental regulations, laws to protect animals from cruelty and abuse, protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, strong unions, universal healthcare, and a higher minimum wage.
I’m NOT for the more extreme policies the progressives and leftists in the party are pushing these days. Yes, I’m pro-choice but I don’t agree with allowing abortion up to the moment of conception! Yes, I’m for gay marriage and LGBTQ+ rights, but I’m not for gender-affirming care for minors, Trans people competing in women’s sports or kids being able to read LGBT books that are not age-appropriate. Yes, I’m for racial justice but not reparations for slavery, quotas, set-asides, DEI in its current form, or hate speech laws. Yes, I’m for welfare programs. But I believe in welfare being about survival, not helping people through life. Nor do I believe in handing it out like candy. Yes, I’m for environmental protection. But I’m totally against banning plastic straws, shutting down nuclear plants, banning fracking, top-down government imposed solutions to climate change, renewable energy in its current form, banning gas powered cars, and telling people not to have children or we need less people so we can save the planet. Yes, I’m for gun control. But I 100% disagreed with New Mexico Governor Michelle Grisham Lujan suspending the second amendment in her state. Yes, I’m for a social safety net. But I wouldn’t be caught dead advocating for free college for all, student loan forgiveness, city-run grocery stores, free public transit, letting people buy whatever they want with the SNAP program, or distributing resources based on skin color.
I believe in being a critical patriot not hating America! I believe in improving capitalism not abolishing capitalism. I believe in teaching immigrants, minority groups. women, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, and poor people empowerment and patriotism not victimhood and identity politics. I believe in reform public education to make or the best it can be not to use it as a tool for left-wing indoctrination. I believe in making College more affordable not making taxpayers pay for free college for everyone. I believe in actually helping uplift Native Americans not have them hooked on welfare subsidies for life that keep them trapped in dependence. I’m a liberal not a progressive. I want to see the return of the Democratic Party of FDR, Harry S. Truman, Henry Wallace, JFK, RFK, Ted Kennedy, LBJ, Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Birch Bayh, Frank Church, John Kerry, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. A party that fought for civil rights for all, blue collar workers, labor unions, improving capitalism, helping the poor, to treat people as individuals not by color or gender, to be critical of but still love America, and for reasonable policies to improve life for our citizens and protect our planet and all the creatures within it. I want to see the return of an activist left that fights for equality and justice using non-violent and strategic means.
We need some calm in America. We need to move beyond the "entitlement attitude" and focus on moving forward with the ideas of our founders. We are industrialized, but such an influx of people from other countries who do not want to accept our values have degraded what we have built. New ideas need to pull from basic foundations that those founders, who were braver than today's population, planted for us to grow. Some deep thought and review of potential unintentional outcomes should be taking place. We also need to understand that we as a country are unique, but we also have a rich history and culture. I have always believed that the United States is a place that, despite being a young country, in the context of world history, is intended to be a special place on earth.
Amen and amen.
I would question the optimism of this piece. Right now, Republicans (who, presumably, are heirs to the principles of the Declaration in the context of this discussion) have a bare majority in the House and the Senate. The share of the vote that Republicans get nationwide is rarely more than 50% - it might be as little as 46% or even less in November. Or perhaps more - perhaps the pessimists are wrong on this score. Perhaps Republicans will eke out a victory after all.
But the Democratic party of today, which is in substance, if not in name, a Socialist party now, will get at least 50% - probably. So keeping the Progressives at bay will require a perfect sequence of consecutive wins. Some states are lost to Progressives/Democrats/Socialists forever, like WA, MA... Some might be lost at some point, and never recover (e.g., AZ, WI). I worry about OH - Vivek does not inspire confidence.
The point of all this is that we are balancing on a knife's edge. One more electoral detour into a Biden 2.0 (for whatever reason - lack of Republican voter enthusiasm in that particular election, lack of money, a strategy that targets the wrong states, a milquetoast Romney-esque candidate that inspires no one, a Dem candidate with more talent than most of them have shown lately, etc.), and we'll get progressivism nation-wide, with a vengeance. Socialism and progressivism are not definitionally the same, but they are fellow travelers.
Socialism is like a cancer - once you get it, it's virtually impossible to fully get it out. And getting it is easy - to millions of people, the *rhetoric* of socialism is tempting. Perhaps socialism in America is waiting for a truly talented demagogue to sell it properly. Think AOC, but with more than two functional neurons in her brain.
So I am not an optimist.
I am. And I will be doing what I can, where I am, with what I have. If the rest of us do the same, we will prevail. If not, we'll deserve our wretched fate.
As someone who holds liberal views on social issues while I do not 100% agree with Mr. Tucker and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, I do think there is some truth in what both of them say. I agree the Democratic Party has moved too far and the left in this country has lost its way. They have become all about treating people as groups rather than as individuals, want to the government to adopt downright authoritarian measures to enact their will, want ever stricter laws concerning firearms, want to compel people to use another’s pronouns, want biological males competing in women’s sports and if you don’t agree they compel you using the power of the state to allow it, they shut down free speech down because it’s “harmful” and “bigoted”, they are opposed to religious freedom, they hate capitalism, religion and the nuclear family, say if you have children you’ll destroy the Earth, etc. They have no regard whatever for the Constitution out it’s ideals.
The hard-left Democratic Party of today is run by progressives and leftists like AOC, Zahran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, Graham Platner, Elizabeth Warren, Ro Khanna, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, etc. They couldn’t care less about what our founding fathers wrote in the founding documents only enacting “social and racial justice” whatever that may mean at any given moment. The Democratic Party needs to return to being a liberal rather than progressive party and seek to make positive social change while staying within the bounds of the Constitution. As a liberal on social issues that’s what I believe in. I don’t believe in authoritarian garbage like reparations for slavery, laws that compel pronoun use, suing Christian bakers for discrimination if they don’t bake a cake for a gay wedding, cancel culture, call out culture, Medicare for All, vaccine mandates and mask mandates, tearing down historical statues, banning books, or mandatory gun buybacks. I believe in sensible policies that will make the country a better place like universal background checks, civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, disability rights, environmental regulations, laws to protect animals from cruelty and abuse, protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, strong unions, universal healthcare, and a higher minimum wage.
I’m NOT for the more extreme policies the progressives and leftists in the party are pushing these days. Yes, I’m pro-choice but I don’t agree with allowing abortion up to the moment of conception! Yes, I’m for gay marriage and LGBTQ+ rights, but I’m not for gender-affirming care for minors, Trans people competing in women’s sports or kids being able to read LGBT books that are not age-appropriate. Yes, I’m for racial justice but not reparations for slavery, quotas, set-asides, DEI in its current form, or hate speech laws. Yes, I’m for welfare programs. But I believe in welfare being about survival, not helping people through life. Nor do I believe in handing it out like candy. Yes, I’m for environmental protection. But I’m totally against banning plastic straws, shutting down nuclear plants, banning fracking, top-down government imposed solutions to climate change, renewable energy in its current form, banning gas powered cars, and telling people not to have children or we need less people so we can save the planet. Yes, I’m for gun control. But I 100% disagreed with New Mexico Governor Michelle Grisham Lujan suspending the second amendment in her state. Yes, I’m for a social safety net. But I wouldn’t be caught dead advocating for free college for all, student loan forgiveness, city-run grocery stores, free public transit, letting people buy whatever they want with the SNAP program, or distributing resources based on skin color.
I believe in being a critical patriot not hating America! I believe in improving capitalism not abolishing capitalism. I believe in teaching immigrants, minority groups. women, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, and poor people empowerment and patriotism not victimhood and identity politics. I believe in reform public education to make or the best it can be not to use it as a tool for left-wing indoctrination. I believe in making College more affordable not making taxpayers pay for free college for everyone. I believe in actually helping uplift Native Americans not have them hooked on welfare subsidies for life that keep them trapped in dependence. I’m a liberal not a progressive. I want to see the return of the Democratic Party of FDR, Harry S. Truman, Henry Wallace, JFK, RFK, Ted Kennedy, LBJ, Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Birch Bayh, Frank Church, John Kerry, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. A party that fought for civil rights for all, blue collar workers, labor unions, improving capitalism, helping the poor, to treat people as individuals not by color or gender, to be critical of but still love America, and for reasonable policies to improve life for our citizens and protect our planet and all the creatures within it. I want to see the return of an activist left that fights for equality and justice using non-violent and strategic means.