The Difference Between a Liberal and a Progressive

Illustrative Image

Written by Eric Zuesse

The difference between a liberal and a progressive is that whereas a liberal is fooled by liberal or ‘leftist’ billionaires’ ‘news’-media and candidates (emphasizing gay versus straight, man versus woman, black versus white, and everything BUT rich versus poor — since the Party is funded by billionaires), and is therefore a supporter of neoconservatism (U.S. imperialism, which all of America’s billionaires support), a progressive is NOT. A progressive isn’t fooled by either liberal or conservative billionaires (and their media), and is, instead against ALL imperialism, and all other forms of aristocracy (commonly called “dictatorship” since virtually all dictatorships are BY the super-rich, since the most-natural form of government is rule by the richest), and is 100% committed to democracy (rule by the public, instead of by the wealth. A progressive demands rule by one-person-one-vote, instead of by one-dollar-one-vote).

Here is a three-minute actual political debate, which took place 11 October 2022, in America’s most progressive state, Vermont, between the liberal (in this case, Democratic Party) candidate Becca Balint, versus the progressive (in this case, Republican Party) candidate Liam Madden, so that you can see a very direct contrast between them. They are contesting to become Vermont’s next lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Whereas in this debate there was no significant difference between them on other policy-issues, the contrast between them on policy toward (America’s latest imperial acquisition) Ukraine was stark and irreconcilable, even though the liberal candidate (Balint) tried to hide this starkness by saying that she doesn’t know enough to be able to express a view on that topic at this time, which is a blatant lie — false, as she herself even intimated there by falsely alleging that the war in Ukraine had been caused by Russia (and NOT by Barack Obama having couped Ukraine in 2014). Here is that 3-minute video:

Any politician who says that he/she doesn’t ‘yet’ know enough about an important topic because it is too important to be able to state their basic policy on it (in this case, that Balint supports the Democratic Party President’s — 100% neocon — position on it, and she evades saying so), is simply trying to deceive voters who like that candidate’s expressed views regarding OTHER topics (which billionaires don’t care as much about — such as equal rights for ALL persons), and she is therefore trying to steal a win by deceiving voters: the candidate intends to represent ONLY his/her funders (the major ones, to whom the candidate had made secret promises), and NOT the voters (and therefore supports actually the aristocracy, instead of the public). To win a public office by deceiving the voters is — if the country is supposed to be a democracy instead of an aristocracy — treason. Balint, in that debate, was acting as a traitor — to steal the voters’ trust (by means of a carefully calculated noncommittal public response to this extremely important public question), instead of to earn it (as Madden did by addressing the question head-on, forthrightly — making a clear commitment to the public on it).

The clearest sign of whether or not a candidate is a progressive (instead of a liberal) is the clarity of the candidate’s positions regarding the biggest and most controversial policy-issues. Whereas a progressive states one’s case so as to reduce ambiguity to a minimum, the liberal sticks with only labels and platitudes to impress and please the most fools, and to win the contest in that way.

That three-minute video clip encapsulates the difference between progressivism versus liberalism. It’s an enormous difference, which is almost invariably hidden instead of exposed in political debates. Because of a great moderator doing a great job, that debate was an exceptional exception to the norm. The test is therefore now on in Vermont to determine whether Vermont has more liberal voters than progressive voters, or, instead, more progressive voters than liberal voters. The result will show on November 8th. Vermont is the most-progressive state, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a predominantly progressive state. (I am not making any prediction on that question. I am simply saying that this contest presents that test in the clearest way I’ve ever seen.)

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