I think the simplest way to explain it is the way I see it liberalism has been operating at least for as long I have been alive on a sort of dead reckoning because it has no functioning moral compass.
Maybe it never did, I don’t know we can have a lot of debates over that and one up one another with how cynical we are about it but the point is that it is indisputable that for the last several decades liberalism has been operating on a sort of dead reckoning where whether something is acceptable or not purely has to do with how normalized it has been by the pre-existing power structure and status quo. All navigation is dependent upon an established record and each further advancement is charted only within the context of previous movements.
Conservatives shot the compass a long time ago and believe compasses are too woke to use by the way in case anyone gets confused about what side I am on here.
The difference I see with “progressives” and what I would call a genuine leftist is at least the attempt to construct a somewhat consistent moral compass and build coalitions based on a shared sense of a moral compass that is RATIONALLY connected to reality through science, healthcare and history.
Someone like Joe Biden spent his whole entire career sticking his finger into the wind and attempting to chart the center of balance in public opinion, a chameleon by design to the trends and fervors of the day whether that be draconian drug policy draconian housing policy draconian crime policy…
On the other hand Bernie Sanders has been saying the same damn thing, his politics have always been an extension of his moral compass even when they weren’t considered popular by mainstream political media. This isn’t to say Bernie Sanders is perfect or some shining example but there is an undeniably fundamental difference in political ideology between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden even though they come from roughly similar political eras. They come from different genetic lineages of political ideology, and in my opinion Joe Biden’s one can’t die off quick enough.
buttmasterflex@piefed.social 8 hours ago
When all of the Civil War generals walked free instead of standing trial and being executed for treason. When the era of Reconstruction was allowed to be ripped away and ground into nothing. When minorities were openly lynched and the perpetrators went unpunished. When, and when, and when….