Click on video.
No Center, No Centrists
By George Lakoff
t r u t h o u t Guest Contributor
Wednesday 15 August 2007
Centrism" is the creation of an inaccurate, self-serving metaphor, and it is time to bury it.
There is no left-to-right linear spectrum in the American political life. There are two systems of values and modes of thought - call them progressive and conservative (or nurturant and strict, as I have). There are total progressives, who use a progressive mode of thought on all issues. And total conservatives. And there are lots of folks who are what I've called "biconceptuals": progressive on certain issue areas and conservative on others. But they don't form a linear scale. They are all over the place: progressive on domestic policy, conservative on foreign policy; conservative on economic policy, progressive on foreign policy and social issues; conservative on religion, but progressive on social issues and foreign policy, and on and on. No linear scale. No single set of values defining a "center." Indeed, many such folks are not moderate in their views; they can be quite passionate about both their progressive and conservative views.
Barack Obama has it right: Get rid of the very idea of the right and the left and the center. American ideas are fundamentally progressive ideas - the ideas on which this country was founded and which carry forth that spirit. Progressives care about people and the earth, and act with responsibility and strength on that care.
The progressive view of government is simple. Progressive government has two aspects: protection and empowerment. Protection is far more than the military, police and fire departments. It includes consumer protection, worker protection, environmental protection, public health, food and drug safety; Social Security and other safety nets. It also includes protection from the government itself, and hence a balance of powers, openness, fundamental rights and so on.
George Lakoff is Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. He previously taught at Harvard University and the University of Michigan. He has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. Dr. Lakoff has published a multitude of articles in major scholarly journals and edited volumes. He is the author of the influential book, Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, Second Edition, (2002). He is a senior fellow at the Rockridge Institute.
2 comments:
I've read a couple of Lakoff's books. It's about time that someone else besides Noam Chomsky gets attention.
I enjoyed the video with the interview of Lakoff by Matt Renner. And Matt did ask some good questions. What I like about Lakoff is how he explained the division of the meaning of liberal, progresssive, and so on. And he was 100% about the Democratic Congress. Amd I agree that all of Congress need to stop calling the situtaton of Iraq a "war." It is not a war. It was a invasion. All of them need to hold the President accountable and hemming and hawing. Hold the President accountable and call a spade a spade! Bush is the person who is the decision maker in this country. And not all the Democrats are a unison. That party is just divided as the GOP.
Finally, what really bugs me about Congress is that they won't tell the public the truth on why George W. Bush and Dick Cheney really cannot be impeached. Let's review the process of the impeachment:
1. Involvement of the Chief Justice.
John Roberts who was nominated by Bush and who is not trustworthy on certain important issues and who was evasive in his questioning by the Senate committee will doubtly favor an impeachment of Bush and Cheney.
2. The President of the Senate and who holds the tied vote. The President of the Senate is Dick Cheney. And he will not vote for his own impeachment or Bush's.
3. Need 2/3 of the votes. Since both parties are so divided on the issues in this country and impeaching the Prez and VP, there is your answer.
Congress needs a plan B and C.
Post a Comment