The anti war movement of the 1960s and early 1970s gave power to a growing progressive voice in this country. During the same era a powerful civil rights movement emerged, and along with feminist activity and gay rights, a decade was dedicated to the struggle between the \liberal"" left and the ""conservative"" right.
The terminology of this era is still used today as the majority of people define themselves as liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. However, as we saw in the 2000 presidential election, the vast majority are virtually split down the middle along party lines and the nature of this relationship has changed from conflict of ideologies to competition of teams as political camps in this country merge more and more with each election.
Progressive advances of the 1960s had a powerful effect on modern American society, bringing progressive ideas into mainstream consciousness. Yet these movements, which gained so much force in their unity have become benign, and the definition of liberal has devolved into mainstream, left-of-center obscurity. Progressive movements are making little progress and political correctness has satisfied most as the solution to prejudice, removing the symptom of injustice but not the cause.
When critics of policy go past the designated issues, party lines become faded and the left-of-center liberals join the conservative camp and marginalize the rest as radicals. Although many democratic candidates appeal to their constituencies through progressive issues during campaigns, the minute they step into office they become pawns of the lobbies with the most money.
There are only a handful of issues for which it is acceptable to be ""liberal."" Capital punishment, abortion and tax breaks are the token debates through which most define themselves along party lines. The rest of the issues are non-negotiable and to take a stand against the attack on Iraq, our biased support of Israel or gay marriages is to be anti-American, anti-Semitic or blasphemous.
The Patriot Act is the perfect example of the McCarthy-style era we are falling into. American citizens are being denied their ""inalienable"" rights of due process because of ""security reasons,"" and there has been a shameless assault on our civil liberties. Suspects are being held in unknown locations without access to legal counseling based on secret evidence of ""terrorist activity,"" and their families have not heard from them in months.
The entire political structure of this nation is based on the premise that the government is dishonest and tyrannical. The media is meant to be the watchdog and the Supreme Court, the House, the Senate and the presidential seat are all in place to break up power so that no one person has too much control over the nation. Added to this, there were certain rights laid out that could not be violated, changed, amended or stripped from any American citizen for any reason. These rights are most important in times of crisis, yet it is in such times that we forget their purpose and blindly trust our leaders to make the right decisions on our behalf.
The underlying conservative nature of this country is such that few seem concerned when the president condemns a court decision based on the fact that it violates Biblical tenants. No one seems concerned that we are giving $5.5 billion a year to a country that is guilty of violating international law, human rights and our very own U.S. Arms and Exports Control Act, and no one seems concerned that we have waged two wars in three years, all in the name of the war against terror.
The apathy of this country has become rampant conservatism in a post Sept. 11 world because the political machine known as the Bush administration has turned fear into submission. Ask what you mean by calling yourself a liberal, because the term has been co-opted by faux liberals so much that our already shameful two-party system is becoming a one-party act.
In today's America, to be liberal is really to be middle-of-the-road and to be progressive has become radical. To be radical is to be marginalized and to be on the margins is to be impotent. The stagnant waters of today's political debate seem more like a circus show in the mainstream media, and little progress toward social justice has been made in the last few years.
We claim to be forcing democracy on an oppressed people (an oxymoron in itself), but what good are freedoms if we do not use them ourselves? The silence of the apathetic majority in this country is deafening and the New Age liberal has left many traditional liberals out in the margins seeking to redefine themselves so that once again they will have a voice.
