How the Left Can Win Arguments and Influence People : A Tactical Manual for Pragmatic Progressives

by Wilson, John K.

• ISBN13: 9780814793633
• ISBN10: 0814793630
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: New York University Press

Summary

If we were to rely on what the pundits and politicians tell us, we would have to conclude that America is a deeply conservative nation. Americans, we hear constantly, detest government, demand lower taxes and the end of welfare, and favor the death penalty, prayer in school, and an absolute faith in the free market.And yet Americans believe deeply in progressive ideas. In fact, progressivism has long been a powerful force in the American psyche. Consider that a mere generation ago the struggle for environmentally sound policies, for women's rights, and for racial equality were fringe movements. Today, open opposition to these core ideals would be political suicide.Drawing on this wellspring of American progressivist tradition, John K. Wilson has penned an informal handbook for the pragmatic progressive. Wilson insists that the left must become more savvy in its rhetoric and stop preaching only to the converted. Progressives need to attack the tangible realities of the corporate welfare state, while explicitly acknowledging that "socialism is," as Wilson writes, "deader than Lenin."Rather than attacking a "right-wing conspiracy," Wilson argues that the left needs one, too. Tracing how well-funded conservative pressure groups have wielded their influence and transformed the national agenda, Wilson outlines a similar approach for the left. Along the way, he exposes the faultlines of our poll- and money-driven form of politics, explodes the myth of "the liberal media," and demands that the left explicitly change its image.Irreverent, practical, and urgently argued,How The Left Can Win Arguments and Influence Peoplecharts a way to translate progressive ideals into reality and reassert the core principles of the American left on the national stage.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction: The Progressive Majority: How the Left Got Left Behind	1	(6)
Chapter 1
The Death of Socialism	7	(1)
Sidebar: Labels for Leftists	8	(14)
Chapter 2
The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (and Why the Left-Wing Needs One, Too)	22	(8)
Sidebar: Going Negative	30	(6)
Sidebar: How to Get a Letter Published	36	(6)
Chapter 3
The Failure of Centrism and the Fall of the Democratic Party	42	(2)
Sidebar: Why Progressives Need Third Parties	44	(5)
Sidebar: The Class Distortion in American Elections	49	(4)
Chapter 4
Polls: The Circle of Lies	53	(6)
Sidebar: The Frozen Pizza Polls	59	(1)
Chapter 5
The Politics of Money: Campaign Financing and One Dollar, One Vote	60	(5)
Sidebar: Why Full Disclosure Isn't Enough	65	(10)
Chapter 6
The Myth of the Liberal Media: How the Press Attacks Progressives	75	(1)
Sidebar: Big Bird Votes Republican: The Myth of Leftist Public Broadcasting	76	(4)
Sidebar: The 1 Percent Advertising Tax	80	(4)
Sidebar: Corporate Television and False Controversies	84	(9)
Sidebar: Why We Need Public Broadcasting	93	(17)
Chapter 7
The Globalization Wars: How the Left Won (and Lost) the ``Battle in Seattle''	110	(4)
Sidebar: Free Trade and Economic Liberty	114	(4)
Sidebar: Stopping Sweatshops on College Campuses	118	(3)
Chapter 8
Pragmatic Progressives	121	(5)
Sidebar: Right-Wing Nuts and Other Extremists	126	(5)
Chapter 9
Talking Tax Cuts: Lowering Taxes on the Poor	131	(3)
Sidebar: Favoring the Flat Tax	134	(3)
Sidebar: Raising the Minimum Wage	137	(6)
Chapter 10
Making Crime a Progressive Issue	143	(18)
Chapter 11
Winning the Culture Wars	161	(2)
Sidebar: Why Progressives Must Love Free Speech	163	(11)
Chapter 12
Equality for Every Child: Reforming Education	174	(1)
Sidebar: Universal Child Care	174	(3)
Sidebar: Attacking the SAT	177	(3)
Sidebar: Teaching Evolution	180	(2)
Sidebar: Supporting Prayer in Schools	182	(2)
Chapter 13
Fighting the Union Label: Labor on the Left	184	(7)
Chapter 14
The Race for Justice: Defending Affirmative Action	191	(1)
Sidebar: Reparations	192	(8)
Sidebar: Why Progressives Must Pay Attention to Race	200	(3)
Chapter 15
Universal Health Care	203	(4)
Chapter 16
Greener Politics: Progressives and the Environment	207	(1)
Sidebar: Animal Rights and the Hazards of Publicity	208	(5)
Chapter 17
Why We Need Welfare and How to Change It	213	(3)
Sidebar: Ending Class Warfare	216	(4)
Chapter 18
Ending Corporate Welfare As We Know It	220	(1)
Sidebar: The $500 Plan	221	(11)
Chapter 19
The Defense Industry: How to Protect America by Cutting the Military	232	(1)
Sidebar: Star Wars Follies	232	(3)
Sidebar: Progressives and the Good War: Why Military Intervention Is Wrong	235	(4)
Sidebar: Why We Need the United Nations	239	(2)
Chapter 20
Saving Social Security	241	(8)
Chapter 21
The Future of Progressives: Generation Left	249	(4)
About the Author	253