Disillusioned Musings of Some Guy

The rising tide of populism in America has come to a head in the 2016 election cycle, exemplified in the hoarse, impassioned speeches of Bernie Sanders and the angry demagoguery of Donald Trump. The slow grinding cogs of bureaucracy have left the dominant political parties in a position of power, but without a clear popular mandate to govern. The old guard jealously hoard what is theirs: power, in all its forms, be it leverage, wealth, status, or otherwise. The right cling to the past, pining for a different time, lamenting the fate of an America that never was and never would be. The left tremble timidly, unsure if acting will cost them votes that they may need to win future positions of equivocation.

I am not a political operative. I am not a member of the “elite” that the populist legions abhor, though I am born into institutional privilege as a white male. I am an educated millenial that finds himself in a political system that seems to disenfranchise the vast majority of the people that live in it. I’m not black, I’m not gay, I’m not a woman — but I’m not blind, and I try to be honest. I see how much easier my hand is than theirs, for no reason at all, and it infuriates me.

Every time a police officer kills an unarmed black man without any semblance of justification and is not punished, every time I read about a school in another country being blown up by a drone strike, every time a bill that makes it harder to vote is passed in a state legislature, I fume and complain and text my brother and irritate my girlfriend. These things, as you can likely imagine, do not help. In reality, despite my privileged position, I feel disenfranchised in a way as well: I don’t know how to help. I’m interested in politics, but have great difficulty supporting any of the existing political parties. I’m not a lawyer and have no designs to become one. Political activism seems romantic enough, before I remember the leaderless Occupy Wallstreet movement and its entirely unromantic and ineffectual end. Black Lives absolutely matter, but advocacy doesn’t quite fit the bill for me either. I have comparably strong opinions about too many issues to pick one and run with it.

My conclusion, through all of this, is that I should write things down in an attempt to organize my thoughts, frustrations, and beliefs. I suppose I could call it a manifesto, or a political platform, but the hubris connoted in those descriptions demurs me. I just plan to voice my ideas to as much of an audience as will listen, and see how they respond. The idea that anyone would care is perhaps built on hubris as well, but nevertheless, the writing continues.

For the sake of structure and ease of communication, I’ll call this collection of opinions Progressive Populism. (Disclaimer: these words have been combined in this order by other people before me. I am not affiliated with any of those people.) I toyed with the idea of calling it a “Millenial Political Platform,” but that’s both presumptuous and incorrect — my mother probably agrees with more of this than a lot of millenials will. Progressive Populism strikes me as correct, and since I believe in the power of names, I’ll explain why.

According to the opening offering from Wikipedia:

Progressivism is a philosophy based on the idea of progress, which asserts that advancement in science, technology, economic development, and social organization are vital to improve the human condition.

There’s another phrase that considerations of progressivism evokes for me, from a somewhat older source than Wikipedia: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Science, technology, economic development, and social organization serve no purpose but to feed the illusory, ethereal American dream that so many have toiled to actualize. To rephrase without the nationalism: at the end of the day, the only thing that really matters regarding progress is people’s lives, and everything else is noise.

To complete my turn of phrase, I’ll go back to Wikipedia:

Populism is a political ideology which holds that the virtuous citizens are being mistreated by a small circle of elites, who can be overthrown if the people recognize the danger and work together. The elites are depicted as trampling in illegitimate fashion upon the rights, values, and voice of the legitimate people.

If there’s one thing virtually everyone can agree on, it’s this. We may not agree on who the elites are or how they’re taking advantage of us, but we know they’re out there and they’re hosing the rest of us.

The reason I find the pairing of these ideas — Progressivism and Populism — crucial, is the inherent anger of populism. It is an easy sentiment for demagogues to hijack (see: 1930’s, Germany) and demagogues can turn a populist mob in whatever direction they want. These demagogues — who may be one of the very elites the populist movement opposes and seeks to turn the “virtuous citizens” against each other — distract, obfuscate, and instigate, and when the fire dies down nothing has changed except the suffering of the scapegoat. It is therefore of utmost necessity that Populism be tempered by Progressivism. Social organization serves no purpose but to improve the human condition: angry mobs looting stores don’t help anyone put their kids through college.

With the nascent idea of Progressive Populism starting to form, I’ll finish this piece by summarizing three basic contributing ideas on which the philosophy (strong word for some guy writing in his down time, but there it is) is based.

1. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness — The non-exhaustive enumerated inalienable rights, as listed by old T.J. himself. Philosophical Libertarianism (not to be confused with the political party) has a place here: Liberty above all else. The primacy of this position cannot be overstated, and I like to expand it to include 3 particular precepts:

a) Bodily autonomy

b) People are more important than institutions

c) Non-violence (self defense is an entirely different can of worms, and those details are best left for later).

2. Capitalism With a Caveat — Free markets are more or less here to stay, and there’s nothing wrong with that… to a point. Free trade is good for everyone involved… to a point. The “point” mentioned for both is the boundary that, when crossed, impinges upon human liberty. Taxes, when spent on protecting human liberty, are a good thing. Massive accumulation of currency by individuals is a bad thing, for it does not contribute to human liberty in any way whatsoever.

3. Empiricism — “Let experts be experts.” There are some realms, such as the physical sciences, where empiricism reigns supreme. Science and mathematics are logical, axiomatic frameworks — there is no weight given to speculation that has no observable or provable basis within the framework. These topics are best left to the people who study them. (see: vaccination/autism, climate change, evolution) (Disclaimer #2: I’m a physics PhD candidate. You’re welcome to attribute this part of the list to bias, if that tickles your fancy.)

I’ll finish for now, with the intention to apply these basic ideas to as much of the spectrum of modern politics as I can in future writing. I have no doubt that I’ve made mistakes, logical or otherwise, and would welcome feedback or constructive criticism in any form.