Sunday, December 19, 2004

Enough With the Concessions Already

Robert Kuttner, editor of The American Prospect, writes an excellent letter to the editor of The Washington Post in response to a snide remark from George Will about the "moral vanity" of liberals who find fault with red-state values. As Kuttner explains, pointing out what you consider a narrow-minded or wrong-headed policy doesn't make you an elitist: "Was Lincoln looking down his upturned nose at slaveholders? The George Wills of the day accused him of far worse."

Unfortunately we progressives have long been susceptible to brow-beating by conservatives because of our excessively "reasonable," overly conciliatory natures. Way back in the 1950s, a classic Jules Feiffer cartoon strip showed two lily-livered liberals debating how to deal with a very large, oafish person in a leotard who was pushing them to join in some idiotic dance routine. By the end of the strip, having agreed that it would be better not to cause a scene or hurt anyone's feelings, the liberals were dutifully dancing on tiptoes as one of them remarked, "It's we who have insight who must make the concessions."

Now, fifty years later, it's time we stop fudging about what we believe to be right and wrong. Enough with the concessions already.
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