Zionism, Health Care and the Illiberalism of Progressive Minds

Real Clear Politics ^ | April 8, 2012 | Peter Berkowitz

[neverdem]

The ability to appreciate the merits of the other side of a question, John Stuart Mill asserted in his 1859 classic, “On Liberty,” is a hallmark of the liberal spirit. By this measure, Peter Beinart’s new book, “The Crisis of Zionism,” which has become a cause célèbre among progressives, marks another step in the parting of ways between progressives and that old-fashioned and indispensable liberalism that recognized that multiple perspectives were vital resources to a free society.

Fittingly, the book was released late last month, during oral arguments before the Supreme Court over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. The progressive defense of the constitutionality of Obamacare embodies the same determination to not merely criticize but to demonize opposing points of view. Taken together, liberals’ critique of Zionism and their defense of the individual mandate provide an instructive window into the growing illiberalism of the progressive mind-set...

--snip--

The failure to acknowledge any merit whatsoever to the conservative case against the individual mandate exhibits a breathtaking unfamiliarity with 30 years of conservative constitutional thought concerning the architecture of limited government. What’s more, it bespeaks a stunning failure of the liberal imagination.

A progressivism that has so lost its liberal bearings is poorly suited to lead the nation in crafting reforms to our flawed health care system. And, as Peter Beinart’s book vividly illustrates, when it looks abroad and directs its attention to the Middle East, that same progressivism is unfit to instruct Israel on how to deal with its tragic conflict with the Palestinians.

[sthguard]

When exactly did “progressives” have any classical liberal foundations at all?

[rdb3]

When exactly did “progressives” have any classical liberal foundations at all?

Your guess is as good as mine.

25 years ago, we had Ronald Reagan, Johnny Cash, and Bob Hope.
Today we have Obama, no cash, and no hope!

If you can't appreciate the pure beauty of the violin after hearing this, something's wrong with your ears.

Or you can get raw with these strings.

How about this gamechanger from America's Got Talent (which they SHOULD have won).

And finally, this, dedicated to the one and only rdb2, whose eyes are growing dim.

Either way, the violin is sweet yet LETHAL.

Do it!

[lentulusgracchus]

When exactly did “progressives” have any classical liberal foundations at all?

Your guess is as good as mine.

With the exception of the Bull Moosers, who were successors of the generation-earlier Mugwumps and the daddies of the Bob Taft "Main Street" Republicans of the 1950's, the term "Progressive" has been used, since WW II, as a camouflage name for American Communists and their abettors.

[SoConPubbie]

The failure to acknowledge any merit whatsoever to the conservative case against the individual mandate exhibits a breathtaking unfamiliarity with 30 years of conservative constitutional thought concerning the architecture of limited government. What’s more, it bespeaks a stunning failure of the liberal imagination.

And this my FRiends, is why Mitt Romney cannot be trusted on anything he or his friends say to try and convince you he is a conservative.