Misreading the History of Progressivism

By Dave

Michael Tomasky believes Progressives are misreading their own history and as a result find themselves continually disappointed and in despair. This has the potential to jeopardize liberalism in the long-run.

Too often, when progressives think of American history, we think only of the snapshots: those glorious moments when a historic bill is signed into law, or when the great progressive leader thunderingly confronts the forces of reaction. It’s good to remember those; they are our lodestars. But they are moments. Actual history is slower, more tedious, and certainly less uplifting. It’s not for Obama’s sake, but for liberalism’s over the long haul, that we need to consider this reality and proceed in full awareness of it. It’s only by seeing this fuller picture that we can know how history actually unfolds in real time and place our present experience within that context.

The whole article is worth reading. I think we need to remember politics is a process and context is king. The limitations of the system are real and daunting. Great politicians, and great political moments, are the product of the right political conditions. Whether it was the emergence of the welfare state, or the civil rights movement, or even health care reform, the moments of victory were the products of the small marginal victories that preceded it.

Change takes time. Making the world a more prosperous, peaceful, and equitable place is the not just the work of a lifetime but of many lifetimes. The fight never ends. Utopia does not exist. The social system can not be remade in whole, instead each generation improves on it the best they can. Sometimes you win big and sometimes you win small, and it is vanity alone that makes us turn down a big win (like Health Care Reform) because it doesn't meet our expectations of utopia. Incremental revolution is the only real and sustainable revolution.

For me, this is a reminder that every victory counts.  Its also a reminder that we need to celebrate our victories a little more and use them to energize us for the fights ahead instead of using them as fodder to fight each other.