Jeffrey Issac’s 2003 book, The Poverty of Progressivism, is a
sobering but realistic look at why a progressive majority will be
difficult to rebuild in the United States. Issac’s work is, therefore,
almost the polar opposite of Judis and Teixeira’s The Emerging Democratic Majority. Issac’s argument for a "chastened" progressivism
resonated strongly with me
because it echoed a great deal of the historical research I’ve been doing lately.
The Progressive period in American politics is quite simply different than the situations we face today.
Sure, parallels exist between the later Gilded Age and today, and certain of the social
conditions which gave rise to the Progressive era have strong parallels today, but the
similarities end there. Perhaps the biggest difference between the period 1890-1920 and today is that we currently lack a broad-based movement among working Americans which presses the political parties for progressive reforms. Instead, today’s broad-based movements are “conservative” and aimed at cultural, rather than economic, issues. This difference alone is enough to support Issac’s pessimistic outlook for progressivism in the United States, but it’s not the only or most important difference. More important is the structural difference in economies between the Progressive Era and today. The “globalization” of the economy has greatly lessened the ability of national governments to introduce progressive reforms against private economic actors which can be made to “stick.” This simple fact forms the background against which today’s progressives must rethink their strategy, political economy, and policy proposals. Issac’s book is a good first step in this direction, although I’m less convinced than he is that a focus on civil society organizations is our path of least resistance.
I didn’t intend this to be a full essay on the subject; I am working on a couple of essays for Progressive Commons related to this topic and I’ll be returning in one of them to Issac’s argument, since although I believe Judis and Teixeira are perceptive about the potential demographics of progressives, demographics alone won’t help because the underlying political economy presents powerful barriers to our traditional notions of progressive policy and reforms.
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17 Comments so far. Comments are closed.After the Adoption, a New Child and the Blues
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From this exchange I have learned something, that progressivism enhances and adds value to a system and a community. For instance, progressive ideas like investing in education creates a skillful work force, which attracts industry. Easily accessible health care is another progressive idea that attracts industrial jobs as shown by Toyota’s choice in locating in Ontario. One thing that might put a strain on Ontario’s growth is its lack of progressiveness in generating electricity to keep its cost down and reliably available.
The disadvantages you point to are essentially catch-22s. Perhaps a shrewd progressive politician will take advantage of this situation and show that a certain kind of affirmative action is essential.
I agree completely with the thrust of your comment; businesses do realize that environments which already have strong health care and education systems are good places to locate.
The problem I allude to in my posting is the other side of the coin, however, which Krugman discusses — a country that is without a solid non-employer-paid healthcare system and a poorly funded educational system is at a distinct disadvantage, in two ways.
Krugman discusses the first of these disadvantages: that businesses may preferentially choose to locate in areas or countries that do have good education and healthcare systems.
There’s a second disadvantage, though, and this is what I alluded to in my post: that the condition of being *without* a well-funded educational system and lacking many basic social services makes it more difficult for the population to use the political system to obtain these things…if that makes sense.
Thus, the trouble is not that globalization and progressive social policies aren’t compatible, it is that globalization gives the political right a set of ready-made excuses for not allowing further expansion of progressive social policies by invoking the spectres of efficiency and market “freedoms.”
I intend to write a longer essay on this topic because it is obviously a critical one for American politics. But for now, hopefully comments will clarify.
Paul Krugman wrote an op-ed piece in the NYT on Monday that said something about progressivism and globalization. Though he didn’t do so, I interpreted him as connecting the two. He uses the examples of Canada’s universal health insurance system and a poorly trained workforce in Alabama. In a globalized economy he saw the former as progressive and the latter as unprogressive.
The topic of his article was Toyota building a plant in Ontario instead of in Alabama which had made big financial concessions to it. He pointed to Ontario’s progressive universal health care as the reason why Toyota decided to locate there. Ontario would save It a ton of money in health care costs. And it didn’t pick Alabama because of its poorly educated workforces. Compounding that, Krugman pointed out, Alabama voted against a tax increase that would have helped to better one of the worst educational systems in America. The upshot is that Ontario won out in globalization because of its progressive social policies in education and wellfare, debunking the theory that globalization is anti progressive in social policies.
Globalization is realizing that in the long run progressive social policies are good for business.