Liberal

I liked Bob Creamer's article in the Huffington Post today about transformational change, especially this part (disclaimer: by quoting from it I'm not taking a position on his endorsement of Obama):

From 1932 to about 1973 -- at least so far as domestic policy is concerned -- traditional progressive values defined the political and economic center in the United States.

By the mid-1970's that changed, and we've been on the political and ideological defensive ever since. For seventy percent of the years since 1968 we have had Republican presidents. President Clinton made many important progressive initiatives. But even in the Clinton years we were forced to battle the dominant conservative value frame.

To achieve realignment, we have to get out of that defensive crouch. To do that we have to forcefully, proudly, consistently stand up for those progressive values. We have to provide a clear contrast between the Right's belief in the unbridled pursuit of individual interest and our commitment to the common good; between selfishness and commitment to others; between division and unity; between fear and hope. We have to consistently assert that fundamental progressive premise: that we're all in this together -- not all in this alone.

I think Creamer's more or less echoing the point that Andrew Rich makes about the anti-ideological orientation of liberal think tanks. I'd speculate that rather than springing from liberal ideology, it's probably just a matter of circumstance, as for pretty much the entire time liberal think tanks have been around, liberal ideology has been in decline. Most "non-ideological" think tanks probably just don't want to be identified with liberalism because it didn't make any political sense.

But as Creamer argues, this is a defensive position, and if liberals are ever going to get their mojo back they have to be loud and proud about who they are. Call it whatever you want- liberal or progressive, I'm fine with whatever works best- the most important thing is to wear our ideology on our sleeve. We could do a lot worse than use Creamer's formulation of solidarity, the common good, and idealism.

Unfortunately, I have the sense that far too many folks actually believe in this "objectivity" stuff now, and don't see it as a product of political reality. I see the same pattern among the fiscal responsibility-ists. By doing so I worry they will prolong the era of conservative dominance longer than it has to be.