Which of These Ideas Would You Call Extreme Left?
North Star Writers Group
December 24, 2008
By Rob Kall
The word is that lefty progressives expect too much, that their positions, issues and stands are too extreme.
Are they?
Is it extreme left to see as immoral the USA's health care system – the only one among developed world countries to not provide health care to every citizen, so people die for failure to seek diagnosis, treatment or medication, or they go bankrupt and lose their homes?
Is it extreme left to want to protect the environment for future generations, and to prefer a cleaner environment to favoring corporations?
Is it extreme to want to make sure that workers here in the USA are treated fairly and given living wages?
Is it extreme to expect equal justice for all colors and creeds, genders and kinds of people?
Is it extreme to expect reasonable banking and finance regulations that prevent the kinds of unbridled greed and irresponsible experimentation with the economy we have seen recently?
Is it extreme to want to trust the judiciary system and all the other government departments to be free from partisan corruption?
Is it extreme to see our military industrial complex – the one Republican President Dwight Eisenhower warned us about – as an out-of-control cancer on our economy that has grown so big, so unresponsive to oversight and regulation that trillions of dollars have disappeared without being accounted for? Is it extreme to want to rein it in and make it fully accountable?
Is it extreme to want to have laws and regulations that protect workers so they can work in safe environments and are treated fairly?
Is it extreme to believe that our food supply should be safe – not just from viruses and bacterial problems, but also from genetic experimentation and manipulations of which we don't really know the long term effects?
Is it extreme to feel outrage when legislators hand credit card companies usurious interest rates and deregulation so they can lure consumers into debts with interest rates over 25 percent when the Fed makes money almost interest-free to banks?
Is it extreme to believe that the Constitution is a precious document – that people who violate its laws, even presidents and vice presidents should be, at the least, investigated, and hearings be held?
Is it extreme to believe that no company should be allowed to become so big that it can't be allowed to fail?
Is it extreme to believe that local media are important and huge media conglomerates that gobble up local newspapers and television stations are a big part of the reason that our mainstream media have failed us again and again in recent years and are now endangered?
Is it extreme to expect legislators to lead and do the job of regulating rogue corporations or industries that engage in practices and policies that severely damage our economy and our international relations – or put any aspect of our future at risk?
Is it extreme left to want Barack Obama to appoint people who were not part of the problem, who didn't support the war or enable the economic crisis as central players in the diseased system?
Is it extreme left to want to see the best and brightest appointed?
Which of these progressive ideas is too far left?
The above list is not left at all. It's moderate, centrist and in no way extreme. The problem is that the opponents to these ideas have gone so far off the extreme right-wing deep end, they think these are extreme, and the mainstream media have let them get away with it. So have the centrist Democratic pundits who emerged from the Clinton Administration, the same ones who apologized for the failure of Bill Clinton (after all, it was he who appointed Hillary) to get universal health care for our nation.
Almost all of my list is opposed by right wingers. Maybe it's time progressives started working at finding common ground with the 70-some percent of evangelicals, the 40-some percent of union workers, the 60-some percent of military and their families, the 50-some percent of parents who have voted against all these ideas – ideas which are better for them. Perhaps the new progressive position is dead center in the middle.
We're facing what could be the worst economy in not just the nation, but the world. We need to join together to pull our nation, our planet and all of humanity out of this mess. If you agree with these ideas and consider yourself a moderate or conservative, maybe you ought to take another look at where progressives stand. You may be in more agreement than you imagined. You may be more able to find common ground and areas of agreement – something we will sorely need.
2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.
The word is that lefty progressives expect too much, that their positions, issues and stands are too extreme.
Are they?
Is it extreme left to see as immoral the USA's health care system – the only one among developed world countries to not provide health care to every citizen, so people die for failure to seek diagnosis, treatment or medication, or they go bankrupt and lose their homes?
Is it extreme left to want to protect the environment for future generations, and to prefer a cleaner environment to favoring corporations?
Is it extreme to want to make sure that workers here in the USA are treated fairly and given living wages?
Is it extreme to expect equal justice for all colors and creeds, genders and kinds of people?
Is it extreme to expect reasonable banking and finance regulations that prevent the kinds of unbridled greed and irresponsible experimentation with the economy we have seen recently?
Is it extreme to want to trust the judiciary system and all the other government departments to be free from partisan corruption?
Is it extreme to see our military industrial complex – the one Republican President Dwight Eisenhower warned us about – as an out-of-control cancer on our economy that has grown so big, so unresponsive to oversight and regulation that trillions of dollars have disappeared without being accounted for? Is it extreme to want to rein it in and make it fully accountable?
Is it extreme to want to have laws and regulations that protect workers so they can work in safe environments and are treated fairly?
Is it extreme to believe that our food supply should be safe – not just from viruses and bacterial problems, but also from genetic experimentation and manipulations of which we don't really know the long term effects?
Is it extreme to feel outrage when legislators hand credit card companies usurious interest rates and deregulation so they can lure consumers into debts with interest rates over 25 percent when the Fed makes money almost interest-free to banks?
Is it extreme to believe that the Constitution is a precious document – that people who violate its laws, even presidents and vice presidents should be, at the least, investigated, and hearings be held?
Is it extreme to believe that no company should be allowed to become so big that it can't be allowed to fail?
Is it extreme to believe that local media are important and huge media conglomerates that gobble up local newspapers and television stations are a big part of the reason that our mainstream media have failed us again and again in recent years and are now endangered?
Is it extreme to expect legislators to lead and do the job of regulating rogue corporations or industries that engage in practices and policies that severely damage our economy and our international relations – or put any aspect of our future at risk?
Is it extreme left to want Barack Obama to appoint people who were not part of the problem, who didn't support the war or enable the economic crisis as central players in the diseased system?
Is it extreme left to want to see the best and brightest appointed?
Which of these progressive ideas is too far left?
The above list is not left at all. It's moderate, centrist and in no way extreme. The problem is that the opponents to these ideas have gone so far off the extreme right-wing deep end, they think these are extreme, and the mainstream media have let them get away with it. So have the centrist Democratic pundits who emerged from the Clinton Administration, the same ones who apologized for the failure of Bill Clinton (after all, it was he who appointed Hillary) to get universal health care for our nation.
Almost all of my list is opposed by right wingers. Maybe it's time progressives started working at finding common ground with the 70-some percent of evangelicals, the 40-some percent of union workers, the 60-some percent of military and their families, the 50-some percent of parents who have voted against all these ideas – ideas which are better for them. Perhaps the new progressive position is dead center in the middle.
We're facing what could be the worst economy in not just the nation, but the world. We need to join together to pull our nation, our planet and all of humanity out of this mess. If you agree with these ideas and consider yourself a moderate or conservative, maybe you ought to take another look at where progressives stand. You may be in more agreement than you imagined. You may be more able to find common ground and areas of agreement – something we will sorely need.
2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.