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The Third Estate
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What Has It Been Until Now In The Political Order?
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What Does It Want To Be?
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Not So Fast

Friday, April 28, 2006
A week ago I wrote about the problem of identity politics and the "cult of authenticity." I argued that liberalism requires not only an emphasis on class politics but tying it to nationalism. And lo and behold, it looks like there is an emerging consensus in this direction: Sam Rosenfeld (referring to David Brooks), Halpin & Teixeira, and Michael Tomasky are all writing about the decline of multiculturalism (i.e. identity politics) and the creation of a politics of the "common good" (i.e. nationalism). And as Ruy Teixeira points out, these themes can be easily linked with the structural renovation of the Democratic Party being pushed by Kos and others to create an effective vehicle for the new Democratic message. Teixeira goes so far as labelling the combination of the politics of the common good + "crashing the gate" as the new formula for success.

Woah boy. Hold your horses. There's a lot of work to do yet.

This is certainly a promising direction, and one I support. Of course it's not exactly new. Ben Wattenberg preached it in the 1970's. Hell, it is a basic description of FDR's New Deal, what William Jennings Bryan was preaching in the 1890's, and every major Democrat back to Andrew Jackson.

There are some important pieces missing to the Teixeira narrative, and some real limitations. First, the reform of the Democratic party has got to be more than an altered organizational chart. The decline of democratic participation in our society is one of its most serious problems. We need to make a clear break with top-down, technocratic, big government liberalism. We also need to make a clear appeal to small business and rural America and avoid being too wed to an urban vision of liberalism. And I want to hear more about executive power and the court system - in short, the health of our constitution.

But what worries me the most is that while we emphasize our new class-based nationalist politics (let's call it Neopopulism), we are in dangering of throwing some of our most loyal allies over the side. What I don't hear a lot about in this discussion are women's rights and civil liberties. One could argue that the thrust of neopopulism to to abandon a focus on the "culture wars." This might be an effective political tactic, but I worry that we might abandon women's rights, gay rights, and civil liberties in the process. Nowhere do I hear mention of the word "abortion," for example.

I don't think that african-american or latino politics will necessarily suffer through "common good" appeals, because we can easily include them in the "we" group, and because class-based policies that distribute universal benefits and opportunities will inevitably help these groups more. No, the real danger is for the politics of personal liberation.

If the suggestion is that we imitate the right in pursuing liberal social policies under the radar once we win power, and to use coded language to communicate the idea to our supporters, then I'm willing to entertain the idea (albeit reluctantly). But if instead we are going to suggest that abortion rights or gay rights should be abandoned , then count me out. I think that there is a useful way to frame these issues within the context of freedom: that conservatives are just like the Taliban, and that we don't have any business in people's bedrooms or spying on them.

I'm not saying that abortion or gay rights has to be the most important element of the Democratic message, because it can't be. But if we don't throw it in there somewhere, then I think we're going to give up on the votes of some of our most dedicated supporters, not to mention the cause of justice itself.
Posted by Arbitrista @ 7:49 AM
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