INDCJournal: Two Must Reads

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April 16, 2006

Two Must Reads

Posted by Bill

The Commissar has an essential round-up:

"Let's repeal the First Amendment."

Meanwhile, certain parties try to right the left (no pun intended):

The Euston Manifesto
We are democrats and progressives. We propose here a fresh political alignment. Many of us belong to the Left, but the principles that we set out are not exclusive. We reach out, rather, beyond the socialist Left towards egalitarian liberals and others of unambiguous democratic commitment. Indeed, the reconfiguration of progressive opinion that we aim for involves drawing a line between the forces of the Left that remain true to its authentic values, and currents that have lately shown themselves rather too flexible about these values. It involves making common cause with genuine democrats, whether socialist or not.
...
B. Statement of principles

1) For democracy.
We are committed to democratic norms, procedures and structures - freedom of opinion and assembly, free elections, the separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers, and the separation of state and religion. We value the traditions and institutions, the legacy of good governance, of those countries in which liberal, pluralist democracies have taken hold.

2) No apology for tyranny.
We decline to make excuses for, to indulgently "understand", reactionary regimes and movements for which democracy is a hated enemy - regimes that oppress their own peoples and movements that aspire to do so. We draw a firm line between ourselves and those left-liberal voices today quick to offer an apologetic explanation for such political forces.

Etc., etc.

Read the rest. Hope springs eternal that classical liberalism will return to "liberalism." Good luck, folks.

Via Aziz at Dean's World, who adds:

This is what I've been waiting for, for a long time.
It is a new democratic progressive alliance - committed to intellectual freedom, human rights, and progressive principles. It is pro-freedom and pro-labor, pro-liberty and pro-human rights. It is the synthesis of being liberal and being libertarian.

I'd quibble a bit with his last line, but the comments under the Dean's World post are interesting - several critics picking the manifesto apart for petty reasons (some incorrect) or certain facets that they find politically disagreeable. These commenters are missing the point, as the effort isn't meant to be a statement of "liberal values that are really conservative-libertarian values;" it's intended to get the left back on track, reconciling historical liberal principles with today's liberalism. Such an effort wouldn't by definition be perfectly politically agreeable to libertarians and conservatives, but it would reestablish common cause in basic humanitarian goals and thus create a relevant opposition in the marketplace of more debatable ideas. To me, that's a capital thing.

Posted by Bill at April 16, 2006 09:20 PM | TrackBack (3)

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Comments

Right, the party that adjusts first to the changed landscape of 21st Century politics will prevail. The Republicans are hobbled by the Religious Right, which is at odds with an electorate that trends libertarian. The Dems have to rid themselves of PC orthodoxy, and reject Vietnam era pacifism (a historical aberration).

But with the Kos Kidz telling the DNC when to jump, that's easier said than done

Posted by: beautifulatrocities at April 17, 2006 09:41 AM

I'd agree with that.

Posted by: Bill from INDC at April 17, 2006 09:43 AM

They still live in economic fairyland - that's the essential foundation of modern liberalism. But apart from that (admittedly huge) problem, there's a lot of good stuff in the manifesto.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at April 18, 2006 12:33 AM

I'd agree with that too.

Posted by: Bill from INDC at April 18, 2006 05:37 AM

Such an effort wouldn't by definition be perfectly politically agreeable to libertarians and conservatives, but it would reestablish common cause in basic humanitarian goals and thus create a relevant opposition in the marketplace of more debatable ideas.

Now why didn't I think of that?

Posted by: Veeshir at April 18, 2006 10:15 AM

Did you Dominech me?

Posted by: Bill from INDC at April 18, 2006 04:19 PM

Did you Dominech me?
I'm not sure what that means. But if it means, "Did you plagiarize me?" note that my post is from the 14th while yours is from the 16th. So, did you Domenech me?

I was also one of the ones quibbling. But after I thought about it, I realized that I wasn't the intended audience. As a matter of fact, I would guess that they would be happy that I wasn't interested, right-wing death beast that I am.

Posted by: Veeshir at April 19, 2006 07:06 AM

I'm not sure what that means. But if it means, "Did you plagiarize me?" note that my post is from the 14th while yours is from the 16th. So, did you Domenech me?

Yeah I saw the timestamp, you bastiche. Was just kidding, of course. Great minds ...

But after I thought about it, I realized that I wasn't the intended audience.

Bingo. They can have all the socialist economic fantasies they want, as long as they don't coddle genocidal dictators, IMO.

Posted by: Bill from INDC at April 19, 2006 08:23 AM

By the way, I'm not a bastiche, I'm a farging bastiche. Just ask any random commenter at Balloon Juice.

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