"Progressivism" on the Ropes
Is This a Turning Point or Just the Latest Cultural/Political Swing to the Right?
The last few months have not been particularly good for “progressives”.
Those who favor open, consistent, heavy taxation, government spending, and government regulation; support an activist government to protect individuals from themselves and others (since, it is believed, they cannot be trusted with personal responsibility); who extol such activism as progress; consider justice as “social” rather than pertaining to individuals; and who see individuals as subsumed by group identity have taken hit after hit recently. (Like all ideologies with more than around ten adherents, “progressivism” has elements of truth, and it can be considered progressive in a way, but not in a context that is either honorific or conducive to progress.)
Relevant recent events include:
—Donald Trump (an imperfect, inconsistent alternative to “progressive” statism) won the US Presidency with not only the Electoral College but a plurality of 49.9% of the popular vote. The “popular” Bill Clinton never won more than 49.2% of the popular vote (and Ross Perot voters were mostly disgruntled Republicans). Some leftists are gloating that Trump “lost his popular vote majority” or even “lost the popular vote” after the dust of final vote tabulations settled. Do any of them think it significant that he exceeded both of Clinton’s totals? Kamala Harris won the City of New York with 67% of the vote, the worst performance by a Democrat since the 1980s.
—“Progressive” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon lost his reelection campaign to ex-Republican “Independent” Nathan Hochman, who has promised to undo some of Gascon’s “reforms”.
—California voters approved Proposition 36, which, inter alia, empowers authorities to more easily arrest suspected shoplifters and charge certain shoplifters with felony offenses.
—Daniel Penny, a “white supremacist” according to certain commentators, was acquitted of homicide (and a second manslaughter charge was dismissed) after causing the death of dangerous, threatening subway rider Jordan Neely (a repeat offender) in New York.
—Ratings for the mainstream media, already low, plummeted in the immediate aftermath of the 2024 presidential election.
—On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his forthcoming resignation.
—And if that weren’t enough, Meta (Facebook) has announced they will no longer engage in “fact checking”, the inexcusable, Orwellian practice of government directed, quasi-private, de facto censorship that ensured the Democratic Party-big tech axis was the closest large, influential movement in the United States today to totalitarianism.
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