Why Do Some Self-Proclaimed Progressives Eat the Movement from the Inside Leave a Hollow Shell?

Why would people who claim to be on the left eat our own and deny us the very goals they claim to seek?

I am no fan of labels, whether it be Liberals, Leftists, Progressives, Conservatives, or Democratic Socialists. Labels divide, not unite and unite we must if we want to stop Donald Trump from completing a well-orchestrated effort to turn our (not perfect by any stretch of imagination) government into an authoritarian nightmare.

Legal protests have no place in Trump’s America, but unnamed para-military troops snatching people off the streets and throwing into unmarked vans without warrants or charges and take them to an undisclosed location is a part of Trump’s vision of America. Asking foreign nations, enemy states, to help him win reelection by finding, or creating out of whole cloth, unflattering information on his opponent(s), trying to reduce voter turnout as much as possible, sending in military-armed Police and Federal troops against anyone who dares to demand their Constitutional right to free speech and freedom of assembly is Trump’s vision for America.

And that should literally terrify anyone because none of us have any idea if we will be next in his crosshairs. I think the quote below may soon describe the state of our nation under Trump.

“In Germany, the Nazis first came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.”

- Martin Niemoeller, Berlin Lutheran pastor arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Dachau concentration camp in 1938; the Allied forces freed him seven years later.

Trump will not even commit to leaving the White House when he loses. He says he will have to “think about that”. No President in our history has ever questioned that unique hallmark of our nation, the peaceful transition of power. After he loses, he will attempt to cast doubt on the results, use his usual spiel about voter fraud, millions of illegals voting (neither claim supported by evidence) and file lawsuit after lawsuit in a desperate attempt to hold onto power.

Is that the America some self-proclaimed “progressives” want? Some of their actions indicate it is. If so, they need to stop calling themselves “progressives” because they’re doing the work of instigators and anarchists by demanding “perfection” now rather than accepting the “good” that’s right in front of them and is attainable. To do anything else is the antithesis of progress.

Why do we, as has been done many times in the past, let the perfect stand in the way of the good? We will never, and that cannot be stressed enough, never have the “perfect” candidate, the perfect politician, the perfect world, nor the perfect life for everyone, yet some people who claim the title of Progressive can’t seem to grasp the concept of not letting the perfect stand in the way of the good.

Is a child born walking, knowledgeable and educated or does that child first have to learn to crawl, then walk, then gain an education? Why would we block a child’s possibility of growth into an adult?

If we insist a child be walking, running and educated at birth and if the child, no matter how good of a child, does not meet our arbitrary criteria, we just toss the child aside because we refuse to allow anything less than instant gratification, perfection as we define it?

No, we do not. We accept the natural process of growth. We accept the good rather than insisting on nothing less than the “perfect”.

In other words, we accept that a child, although good, is not yet perfect and that a child should not be tossed aside, blocked from growth, because that child may make a difference once grown, once he or she is “perfected” by growth and experience.

Well, we “threw out” the imperfect child at Democratic Convention in 1968 because the child, the “imperfect” candidate, Lyndon Johnson, didn’t measure up to a certain level of perfection as defined by a relatively small, yet influential group of self-labelled “progressives” who voted for a third-party candidate, McCarthy, and we ended up with “I’m not a crook” Nixon.

And how did that work out for the progressive cause?

We did it again in 2000 because a relatively small group voted for Ralph Nadar, who cited “a crisis in democracy” as his reason to run as the Green Party nominee and made no secret that his intent was to damage the Democratic Party because Al Gore wasn’t “perfect” in the eyes of those who voted for Nadar. And that relatively small minority played a pivotal role in getting George W. Bush elected. Does “crisis in democracy” and “damage the (admittedly imperfect) Democratic Party” sound familiar?

Again, how did that work out for the progressive cause?

And it seems to be happening again. Joe Biden is merely “good”, not “perfect” for a relatively small minority on the Left (okay, I used a label, despite my dislike of them).

Even a few Delegates (well, if nearly 500 is a “few”), inspired by Nina Turner and others have stated that they will not cast their vote for the Democratic Platform if Biden doesn’t support Medicare-for-All. But most say they will reluctantly vote for Biden in November rather than risk four more years under Trump.

But suppose many voters value “purity” over pragmatism and do not vote for him? We have seen the damage that a small minority that refuses to support the Democratic candidate can bring upon us. They may well give us four more years under a Trump Administration. I do believe, however, that when they go to cast their ballot and see the name “Trump” it will terrify them enough to vote for Biden.

Donald J, Trump. The President who has been impeached but given a pass by the Republican-controlled Senate because he now controls it.

When he tells Senate majority leader McConnell to jump, McConnell says “how high”.

Trump appoints lackeys to head up Agencies, that, before working in government, worked in private enterprise and tried to eliminate the very Agencies they now control.

He sows racial and economic discord, refuses to criticize White Nationalists, Supremacists, Nazis and neo-Nazis because “there are fine people on both sides”.

He takes the word of Vladimir Putin over every Intelligence Agency in the U.S. government, dismisses science, claims Climate Change is a Chinese hoax and even bans the phrase “Climate Change” be used in any official reports or studies.

He proclaims the media is the “enemy” of the American people rather than the defender of us by exposing criminal acts of government officials ( I am not saying the media is completely unbiased- no person is or can be but “enemy of the people”? Really?)

He separates children, even toddlers, of illegal immigrants from their parents, locks them in cages where they’re poorly treated as they cry out for their parents.

He insults long-time U.S. Allies while praising long-time enemies.

He says he believes the Saudi Prince MBS’ claim to not have had U.S. resident and journalist Jamal Kashoggi killed, inside the Saudi Embassy in Turkey while MBS was there.

He cut funding to WHO in the middle of a pandemic that he knew about last November but failed to act to protect the America people. The President who says about the death toll from COVID-19 “I take no responsibility”.

And he threatens to pull out of NATO because he believes it costs too much. NATO without the U.S. backing it would simply invite Putin to “annex” more of eastern Europe.

It is almost as if Trump takes his marching orders from Vladimir Putin and other dictators around the world. They “love” Trump (his word) but he doesn’t even realize they “love” him because he is as easy for them to manipulate as a puppet.

Trump does the very things foreign enemies have tried to do to the U.S. for decades; sow discord in America to make our system of government look bad to reduce our influence around the world and separate us from our Allies. I’m not saying that America is that “shining city on a hill” and bastion of freedom that Reagan claimed us to be but Trump is actively turning us into one of those “sh**hole” countries he’s long criticized.

Trump is and has been a sort of “Robinhood” character, except he robs the poor to give to the rich. We only have two choices in November and one chance to stop our current traitorous President and enable true progress in our nation.

We may not get a second chance.

And now, in 2020, a relatively small minority of self-proclaimed “progressives” may attempt, on November 3rd, to stop the very progress they claim to want just because they don’t like Biden. If they cannot have the candidate of their choice and their new rules put into place immediately then they attack the candidate who is “good” but not “perfect” in their eyes.

And just how do they think that will work out for the progressive cause?

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