What "type" of Progressive are YOU?

[itzamirakul]

An article from the Leftwing Think Tank:
www.rockridgeinstitute.org/research/rockridge/valuesmovement
entitled:
CREATING A PROGRESSIVE VALUES MOVEMENT
states:
<snip>
From sociological or political perspectives, there seem to be dozens, if not hundreds, of types of liberals and progressives. But from a cognitive perspective, defined by modes of thought, there are just six:

SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROGRESSIVES:
believe that the most important considerations involve money and class. These progressives believe that economic inequality lies at the heart of most societal problems and therefore that...Crime, infant mortality, low education levels - most, if not all, social maladies - would be greatly redcuced if people were more equal economically. FAIRNESS is the key VALUE here along with equality and opportunity.

IDENTITY POLITICS PROGRESSIVES:
are those who either belong to or identify with a particular oppressed group who desires their liberation and an end to oppression. (They believe that) All oppression is wrong, and to right the wrongs means extending rights to everyone in society equally. SHARED VALUES are RESPONSIBILITY, FAIRNESS, TRUST, COOPERATION and COMMUNITY BUILDING.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS:
focus on the sustainability of the earth and the natural environment, the sacredness of nature, and protecting native peoples. Belief is about nurturance and the future. PRIMARY VALUES are EMPATHY AND PROTECTION.

CIVIL LIBERTARIANS:
focus on the notion that human beings have a fundamental right to live their lives without harassment and harm being inflicted on them by arbitrary power, issues of freedom, liberty, democracy (equal sharing of power), and individual rights are paramount. Civil Libertarians believe we must be on guard at all times for even small threats to our civil liberties. CENTRAL VALUE is PROTECTION.

SPIRITUAL PROGRESSIVES:
focus on the nurturant aspects of religion and spirtuality. Service, compassion and commnity connects them to other people and to the world. EMPATHY is the PARAMOUNT VALUE.

ANTI-AUTHORITARIANS:
share a deep distrust of authority with Civil Libertarians but are more concerned with how people and organizations with more power can threaten and harm those with less power, i.e.large corporations, police departments, even parents. CENTRAL VALUES are FAIRNESS, FREEDOM FROM OPRESSION and PROTECTION OF THE OPPRESSED.
******************
No doubt most of us would consider ourselves a combination of two or more of the above categories. The important point is to define ones' self and then see what VALUES we share with those who feel they belong to other categories. A way of learning to work together.

How would YOU define yourself?

I think that I am a combination of Civil Libertarian, Socio-Economic and Identity Politics.

[Reverend_Smitty]

1. I think I am a little of all of the above!

n/t

[dusty64]

2. Me too.

x

[stevebreeze]

3. a little off topic but is that site real hard to read?

Is there some trick to making the type larger for my tired old eyes?

[itzamirakul]

9. I'm in the same boat as you are age and eyesite-wise but I was able

to get through it enough to feel it was important enough for me to have a paper copy to peruse. So I copied it and pasted it onto an email and sent it to myself. And lo and behold, the darned thing came out in SIZE 24 TYPE. Then I had to copy and paste it onto a new email and resize it down to size 12 type and then print it out. But it is very valuable information and worth the time and effort.

There are so many great ideas at that site for us to consider here at DU that it is like having a text book for how to defeat the Republicans.

(Now that I said THAT I am sure that a bunch of freepers will visit the site - but what the hell - they have dozens of think tanks. We need at least ONE.)

[Poppyseedman]

10. Bigger text

if you are using IE, there is a text size function in your browser bar called "view". Click it and you see the "text" function

Increase your text size

[stevebreeze]

20. thanks! that worked great

you ask questions you learn.

[welshTerrier2]

21. that won't work on all pages though

try this link and see if you can make the text larger and smaller (using IE) ... it won't work:

http://www2.townonline.com/ashland/opinion/view.bg?articleid=178189

see my post below on how to use the "accessibility" button to handle this situation

[welshTerrier2]

15. How to make the text larger

if you're using Internet Explorer, try this:

click on the "View" menu at the top of the browser window
click on "Text Size"
click on either "Larger" or "Largest"

for some websites, setting the text size requires an additional setting:
after setting the "text size" using the above steps, do this:

click on "tools"
click on "internet options"
click on the "accessibility" button
click the box that reads "ignore font sizes specified on web pages"
click "OK"
click "OK" again

IMPORTANT NOTE: if other webpages don't look "right", remember to go back and turn off this feature ...

If you're using Firefox, all you need to do is press the "CTRL" button at the same time you press the "+" button ... each time you press this combination the font size increases ... to make it smaller, do the same thing but use the "-" button instead.

[KarenS]

4. I am a Michael Moore Progressive !!

Which seems to be a combination of several of those with some disrespect & sarcasm thrown in for good measure.

[Tux]

5. I am

The environmentalist and spirtiual types with a little of the socioeconomic type.

[NGU]

6. Civil Libertarian

if I had to choose

[FiveGoodMen]

17. I'll second that.

[democrank]

7. Thanks for the question.

In general, I`m a Socio-Economic Progressive and a fiscal conservative who believes in a balanced budget in government and at home. I place a high value on being resourceful, making do with what I have and helping others.

I`m against war, imperialistic foreign policy, corporate takover of our government and the death penalty.

I`m for an increase in the minimum wage, free state college tuition, national health care and against almost all pork barrel spending unless voters in individual states give their okay and agree to pay for it.

[welshTerrier2]

8. where does anti-war fit ??

i'm not a pacifist but I believe Vietnam and Iraq have been waged for highly immoral purposes ...

it's easy for me to fit into the socio-economic category because I think functioning democracies require "some leveling" of the socio-economic strata ... i don't seek absolute equality as an objective ... we have ALLOWED to much amassing of great wealth and it has totally corrupted our democracy ...

BUT, the definition of a socio-economic progressives really makes no mention of the corruption of the government that results from inequality of socio-economic status and it doesn't mention anything about wars being fought to benefit greedy corporatists ...

so i guess the categories are useful as a starting point but I think they may be a bit narrow ...

[itzamirakul]

11. You raise such good points...

This site is a Think Tank and their descriptions make us really think about what we believe and what should be added as important points.

As you say, it is a "starting point" and your concerns about the ommissions make ME think about ideals that I value that I forgot all about until you brought them up.

Their point in this article is to get us to stop fighting each other and begin to look at the larger, broader SHARED VALUES that make us Progressives. They point out that the Republicans have mastered this technique of SHARED VALUES on the broader scale that enables them to even get folks to vote against their own best interests (not something that we want to do.)

In my case, I am a hard-line left-leaning Liberal - until I read more in the article about things that made me realize that there is an extreme far left that I will not go to.

[welshTerrier2]

13. thoughts on unity

unity yields power ... in that sense, i.e. in a political arena, unity must be viewed as desirable ...

the exercise of "encapsulating" progressives into cognitive categories may provide a vehicle for us to begin to unify, within these categories, with people of like or similar attitudes ... there's certainly nothing wrong with a little introspection ... and it also may help us better understand others in the Party who see the "progressive" world somewhat differently ...

beyond just individual progressives, the Party itself needs to be more introspective ... i've written extensively that we cannot continue to let the Party's ongoing identity be defined by each new candidate we nominate ... we need to have a long-term "core" set of values and beliefs from which all policies are derived ... starting with a well-publicized "story" gives each and every Democratic candidate a huge headstart in explaining themselves to the voters ... as things are now, they have to keep reinventing the wheel ...

anyway, i'm afraid that introspection is not the central path, albeit a useful one, to building unity in the Party ... the issue of unity requires that all who want a voice be given a voice ... i've argued that the Party's platform should be open to every single Democrat ... the response I've gotten from Party insiders is that they have some kind of bureaucratic process that determines the platform ... you get elected to this and then you attend these meetings and blah, blah, blah ... the problem is that most people won't "get elected" because they are not Party insiders ... the bottom line is that people who may want to participate in defining the platform may not be given a voice in doing so ... and that's unacceptable ...

to digress, i've heard the same arguments about the Iraqi elections ... "the Sunnis chose not to participate so they don't have a say" ... this misses the point that unity has not been built just because elections that others consider legitimate have taken place ... the Democratic Party uses the same type of justification ... "what are you complaining about ??? we have a process for that !!!" ... the point is that, whether a "process" exists or not, whether people were elected democratically or not, unity is not developed when those who want a voice don't have one ... the "processes" only build unity when they are seen as truly open and legitimate by ALL interested parties ...

so, in conclusion, I value the importance of building unity in the Party ... the river's power is at its greatest after it has been joined by all the tributaries ... and understanding who we are and how we are the same and how we differ is always a valuable exercise ... but in the end, absent a real commitment by those with the greatest power to share that power, there can never be unity ...

[H2O Man]

12. Very interesting.

This is a good post. Thanks for putting it on.

Hopefully none of us limit ourselves into any one identification. Yet at the same time, it is important to have a focus. At the grassroots level, it's good to invest your time, money, and energy into some specific area.

At the same time, each individual interest must be part of the larger movement. Alone, we are like fingers that our enemy can easily break. Together, we form a powerful fist.

I believe in Liberation Theology. It combines the different groups you have mentioned.

[welshTerrier2]

14. the "Mittens" theory of politics

Alone, we are like fingers that our enemy can easily break. Together, we form a powerful fist.

so, you're arguing that we should be more like mittens than gloves ?? sorry, just goofing around ...

Hopefully none of us limits ourselves into any one identification.

I saw Jesse Jackson Jr. speaking (on C-Span) a few weeks ago at a PDA convention ... he really chastised the audience for being too narrow in their political beliefs ... the women's movement, the anti-war crowd, unions, the NAACP, environmentalists, etc ... he referred to each cause as a "patch" ... i suppose he was leading up to the idea of pulling together in a "patchwork" quilt ... he cited how we are alienated (and weaker) because we each cling to our own patch and refuse to recognize the common values that should unify us ... sounds to me like he's got it about right ...

[H2O Man]

16. I like gloves.

I always liked boxing gloves just fine.

[frylock]

18. socio-economic + anti-establishment

[RebelOne]

19. Civil Libertarian and Environmentalist

[Democrat Dragon]

22. I'm mainly these three:(in order, first being my most valued)

Anti-Authoritarian

Enviomentalist

Socio-Economic Progressive

[Wiley50]

23. Enviormental, Anti-Authoritarian Civil Libertarian Social- Economic

Progressive

One Hell of a mouthful!

As long as I don't have to say it,
it works for me.

Anyone got any ideas on how to abbreviate it?

[Dob Bole]

24. Socio-economic + spiritual nt

[Dark]

25. I'm mainly a liberal because I'm gay. So what does that make me?

[pstans]

26. Spiritual Progressive

I think I would be a Spiritual Progressive, yet I don't really consider myself to be religous. I think that we all live in a community and when everyone does better everyone does better. A stronger community makes everyone stronger. If that makes sense at all.

[goodhue]

27. all of the above

Its a holistic kind of thing.

But if I had to rank them from top to bottom:
ENVIRONMENTALIST
SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROGRESSIVE
IDENTITY POLITICS PROGRESSIVE
CIVIL LIBERTARIAN
ANTI-AUTHORITARIAN
SPIRITUAL PROGRESSIVE

[desertalien]

28. Socio-Economic-Environmentalist

I think with those progressive beliefs the others are included or would fall in.

[Gene Starwind]

29. Strongly anti-authoritarian

I would have to describe myself as an anti-authoritarian, going by the labels provided. I'm basically an anti-establishmentist existentialist, as a philosopher, so I guess that's only natural.

There is one thing that I'd like to point out though, and that's that, on some level, I think all liberals share the value of compassion.

[Cozmosis]

30. Civil Libertarian

With a dash of Socio-economic thrown in.

[Vladimir]

31. Moi, je suis un communiste n/t