This blog is dedicated to progressive and liberal thought. It also discusses new technology, how technology affects privacy and developments in Russia, China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Rightardia fully supports the rights of workers to organize, the feminist movement, and all Americans regardless or ethnicity, sex or gender.It uses humor, satire and parody to expose conservative thought for what it truly is: BS! Rightardia contributes to the DNC, DCCC, DSCC and MoveOn.Org.
Showing posts with label fascism. progressive thought. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fascism. progressive thought. Show all posts
In the January 3, 2011 edition of The Nation, Eric Alterman argues that conservatives have a story and progressives do not.
[I]f you ask most Americans what conservatives believe will fix whatever is wrong with America at any given time, they can give you a simple, coherent response: lower taxes, less government, more “freedom.” It may be wrong. It may benefit only the rich. But it is easy to understand and repeat, particularly when billions of dollars have been invested to make it appear plausible.… Liberals do not appear to address potential solutions with anything like the far right’s aura of God-given self-confidence.
What could the progressive story be?
it should center around the expansion of the middle class, international peace, improved education and opportunity for the middle class America, a right-sized government that can control the deficit and a democratic approach to big national issues like health care and senior care.
The government should should use pragmatism to improve the country, not ideology. There should be the recognition that Americans must be competitive to maintain its "exceptionalism.
Indeed, Americans need more freedom that has both an economic and political basis. There should be a recognition that our history is based on the efforts of both the government and private enterprise.
Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) -- Acknowledging that he and they don't always see eye to eye, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) on Saturday praised the influence of progressive activists gathered at the annual Netroots Nation convention.
Speaking to a large ballroom filled with bloggers and others in the progressive movement, Reid said they help represent the voice of "real Americans."
I admire how you pursue the truth as relentlessly as you reveal hypocrisy," he said. "You shine much-needed light on fear tactics and misinformation. I am calling you to keep calling them out.
But Reid, who has not always pushed agenda items as liberal as progressives would like on such issues as health care reform, acknowledged their past differences.
I know that there are times I am told that I get on your nerves," Reid said to some laughter in the room. "And I am here to tell you ... you get on my nerves sometimes.
While sometimes critical of him for how he has pursued different policy objectives, Reid gave progressives credit for helping build support for some of the key initiatives passed.
There is no doubt in mind that we will not have accomplished all that we have in this Congress without your efforts to explain the facts about what we are doing, to expose the truth about what the other side is doing.
He addressed specifically the lack of a public option or government-run insurance option not included in the health care overhaul.
Now I know you wish some of these reforms were even more sweeping and believe me I do, too," he said. "But we also have to be realists. I wish we had a public option. But we are going to have a public option. It is just a question of when.
Some progressive activists have questioned why the Senate wasn't able to do more since Democrats had a supermajority of 60 votes, the number required to defeat Republican filibuster attempts.
He answered those critics saying they did not have that threshold as long as some believed citing the dispute over Al Franken's win in Minnesota and Ted Kennedy's illness. "Sixty votes was a fleeting time" in our nation's history, but "we did a lot," Reid told them.Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu Netcraft
Glen Beck, the intellectual bantamweight of Fox news, tries to compare American progressive thought to Italian fascism. As usual this right wing buffoon gets it wrong.
According to Wikipedia, Progressivism is a political and social term for ideologies and movements favoring or advocating changes or reform, usually in an egalitarian direction for economic policies (public management) and liberal direction for social policies.
Progressivism is often viewed in opposition to conservative ideologies.
In the United States, the term progressivism emerged in the late 19th century into the 20th century in reference to vast changes brought by industrialization: an alternative to both the traditional conservative response to social and economic issues and to the various more radical streams of socialism and anarchism which opposed them.
Political parties, such as the Progressive Party, organized at the start of the 20th century, and progressivism made great strides under American presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Fascism is a political ideology that seeks to combine radical and authoritarian nationalism with a corporatist economic system,and which is usually considered to be on the far right of the traditional left-right political spectrum.
Fascists advocate the creation of a single-party state,with the belief that the majority is unsuited to govern itself through democracy.
Fascist governments forbid and suppress openness and opposition to the fascist state and the fascist movement. Fascism opposes class conflict, blames capitalism and liberal democracies for its creation and communists for exploiting the concept.
Fascism fashioned itself as the "complete opposite of Marxian socialism" by rejecting the economic and material conception of history, the fundamental belief of fascism being that human beings are motivated by glory and heroism rather than economic motives, in contrast to the worldview of capitalism and socialism.
Rightardia looks at it this way. Fascism and Communism are both political extremes. Both are totalitarian and collectivist. Both usually have oligarchies headed by a dictator.
Capitalism is the economic system preferred by fascists and socialism is the economic system preferred by communists.
Neither extreme system has been successful. Fascism governments--mainly Germany and Italy--were defeated in World War 2. The communist government of the Soviet Union eventually failed because its economics never worked.
We have two emerging Asian counties left today that represent two different government approaches. On one hand we have India that prefers a free enterprise economic model and China that has a mixed model with centralized planning.
We could call Beck's effort to describe progressive thought as fascist as disinformation. Or we could call it a bold faced 'pants of fire' lie.
