From his opening lines,
Why can't the left get any respect?to the closing paragraph,
Whenever you use the word "left" in American politics, you feel almost compelled to add quotation marks. Today's left is not talking about nationalizing industry, abolishing capitalism or destroying the rich. What passes for "left" in American politics is quite moderate by historical standards.
But the "good ideas" that voters are demanding mostly have to do with problems
that have been framed by the left, not the right: the need to disengage from Iraq, to create health security, to ease economic inequalities. It's time to update our sense of where the political center lies and to adjust our view of "the left" accordingly.
Dionne puts progressive politics into a thoughtful national context.
1 comment:
E.J. Dionne makes an important point. My stand has issues has been seen as "far left" in the past. Suddenly, I've moved to the center, advocating health care for all, demaanding an end (and tried to stop it beginning) of the Iraq War, advocating embryonic stem cell research, etc. etc. I didn't move to the Center -- the Center moved to my "far left" positions. I think this is true of many of us were considered to be too far out in the past.
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