Dems, It's OK to Use 'Liberal' Tag Again

Label is ready to make a comeback
By Gabriel Winant,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 24, 2008 1:50 AM CST
Dems, It's OK to Use 'Liberal' Tag Again
Sens. Harry Reid and Charles Schumer stand near a statue of Franklin D. Roosevelt in this 2005 file photo.    (Getty Images)

Now that Democrats have started winning again, Michael Lind wants to go back to using the word “liberal” instead of “progressive.” Writing in Salon, he explains why:

  • A name change isn’t going to protect anyone from criticism in any case, so be brave. “Your enemies will caricature you, no matter what you call yourself.”
  • “Progressive” used to be a euphemism for sympathizers of the Soviet Union and Ho Chi Minh. Time for the left to move on.

  • Everyone claims to be progressive. “Fiscal conservatives who wanted to invade Iraq were progressives—and so were democratic socialists.”
  • “Progressive” suggests liberals are for anything new. In fact, they’re only for good new things.
  • The word “progressive” is borrowed from German, and grafts a German philosophical tradition onto a political movement that has a proud Anglo-American heritage. Think Bismarck vs. Jefferson.
(More progressive stories.)

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