Progressive Liberalism

The rise of intolerance

“…The American people are finally fighting back. They realize that liberalism has failed them. It is a system that has both ignored them and created a foundation for failure; a system of dependency and surrender…. A system controlling language so that only one voice, the liberal voice can ever be heard.”

Gianno Caldwell – African American author, strategic consultant and political analyst

Classic liberalism was born in the 1600-1700’s in Europe during the age of Enlightenment. In opposition to aristocracy and state enforced religion, individuals such as  John Locke and later, John Stuart Mill were on the vanguard of the liberalism movement.  It sought to instill the values of individual liberty, small government, freedom of thought, tolerance, empiricism, critical thinking and basic civil liberties. No doubt, at is inception, it championed these transformative virtues and paved the way for evolution of western society.

In the early 20th century, classic liberalism morphed into social liberalism and later progressive liberalism.  A distinct change from its original and exceptional core values. Abandoning the pursuit of individual liberty, freedom of though, and equality of opportunity, Liberals became the plenary advocates for equality of outcome, woman’s reproductive rights, LGBT rights, open borders, and globalization to name a few.

Along with the shift away from their core and traditional values, liberalism has undergone a distinct change in tone and tolerance. The values championed by progressive liberalism today leave no room for compromise or an alternate point of view.  The progressive liberal positions have grown increasingly absolute. Agree with them or be damned. If your point of view differs from conventional liberal dogma, you are cut off from debate, shouted down, demonized, labelled, have your character assaulted in the media or all of the above.  The once clarion voice of reason, tolerance, the family, the working class and the downtrodden has now been replaced by the not so quiet advocacy for globalists, elitists, special interest groups and most recently and regrettably, intolerance. Simply put, liberalism has been hi-jacked by progressives and unfortunately so to has its core values.

One need only observe the growing intolerance in liberal run institutions. In August 2017, Ryerson University in Toronto announced it would be cancelling a scheduled event called “The Stifling of Free Speech on University Campuses”. The event included a clinical psychologist, a member of the media and Jordan Petersen, University of Toronto psychology professor. Peterson had opposed a controversial law that would have enshrined the rights of transgender people by adding “gender identity and expression” to human rights and hate-crime laws.  Professor Peterson did not support the law and still refuses to use non binary pronouns. “Arguments that biology does not determine gender stem from the humanities and are entirely ideologically driven.", said Dr. Peterson. Peterson sees the law as potentially infringing on freedom on speech and expression.  "It's a tenet of the ideology that identity is socially constructed… There is no way they can win the argument but they can win the propaganda war.”,  Peterson said. As a result of his position, several hundred students attended a rally protesting his presence. “We deserve to feel safe” read one of the signs of a protester.  “Feel safe”, “safe space” are now common crying calls for liberals and justification to impede the right of people with an opposing perspective to be heard. As it happens, the debate was cancelled by the University and with it, was lost an opportunity to experience an honest, intellectual debate showcasing the different point of views.

There is an exhaustive list of debates shut down on University campuses diminishing our capacity to cultivate free and critical thinkers. Here are but a few examples…   

Black Lives Matter shut down debate at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor - A non-partisan student debating committee had announced a debate on whether “Black Lives Matter is harmful to racial relations in the United States.”   A student op-ed condemned the debate topic and the student government followed declaring the topic as bigoted.  When the debate did attempt to take place, hundreds of protesters forced their way into the debating room, shouting and hurling obscenities for an hour. The debate was effectively shut down with no action taken by campus police or university administrators present at the debate. No surprise, after the debate, the University administration offered no statement of condemnation or took any disciplinary action to the many protestors caught on video tape.

Conservative speaker shut down at University of Wisconsin, Madison –  Claiming that Conservative speaker Ben Shapiro’s presence on campus was a threat to minority students, protestors repeatedly shouted obscenities at Shapiro during a lecture.  Police present at the lecture took no action even after Shapiro asked them to intervene. The event was disrupted and the chaos continued as protestors confronted another conservative speaker at the event intimating her until she needed police protection. Not surprisingly, University of Wisconsin took no action during or after the event.

Immigration and customs enforcement speaker driven off Northwestern University campus - Student chanting vulgar obscenities drove a representative from the US Customs and Enforcement office off their campus. The representative was invited to speak to students about immigration and the role of ICE in America.  Student demonstrators rejected the premise of having any dialogue that rationalized or legitimized the Federal government body hence their provocative action of intimidation and suppressing free speech went on unabated.

Pro-life groups shut down at Oxford University in England, Pro-life groups smoke bombed at University of Texas as Austin in 2019, Pro life volunteers attacked at George Washington University in 2019; simply not enough time and space to give all the examples of the bias and repression of pro-life speakers and groups.

And perhaps, the most ironic example, protestors shut down their own Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow during his 2019 speech at Harvard University regarding expanding economic opportunities.  30 protestors stormed the stage at the John F Kennedy Jr. Forum shouting down President Bacow with their objections to the University’s $400M budget and how it is invested. Backow was unable to continue with his speech. Shortly after, President Bacow published an editorial piece in the Harvard Crimson stating, “The heckler’s veto has no place at Harvard. When we shut down conversation, when we shut down debate, we shut down the opportunity to learn through reasoned discourse. What kind of community do we want to be?"

So here you have just a few examples and common in each are the tactics of shouting down the individual, yelling obscenities, intimidation, and utter intolerance to a different point of view. Complicit in these actions of protestors are the inactions of university authorities, media and our political leaders. In our democracy, we believe we have the right to express ourselves… our revered freedom of speech.   However, one can only conclude the progressive liberals don’t believe all points of views are equal. You can have a dissenting perspective but you will not be permitted to express it in the public square.  “Its easier to denounce than to debate.”,  said Peter McKinnon, a legal scholar and former president of the University of Saskatchewan. So conform to the progressive liberal dogma or your voice will be shut down. If they can’t shut you down, Progressive Liberals will resort to the familiar divisive name calling we know all too well; “your point of view is homophobic, xenophobic, misogynist, racist, full of hate… “ and on an on.

Cultivating intolerance and interdiction towards opposing points of view will disenfranchise broad swaths of our society. This will ultimately sow the seeds of civil distrust and division, and weaken the bedrock of our democracy. The time has come to stand up to this intolerance and let progressive liberals know that this is not acceptable in a humane and tolerant society. Regardless of your political persuasion, it is in our best interest to stop this practice as the wedge it is driving into the fabric of our society is widening beyond repair. Liberals, it is time you rediscover your founding principles and let freedom of thought and expression reign.

 “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom - and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.”

Benjamin Franklin -  One of the founding fathers of the United States. A noted inventor, scientist, political philosopher, activist, statesman and founder of the University of Pennsylvania