---- Original Message ----- From: "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
-In the 1930s "Progressive" was essentially defined as "an opponent of -German aggression." Within the next 20 years or so it will become -obvious that "progressive" now means "opponent of U.S. imperialism."
What a silly statement. Foreign policy was such a minor constitution of American politics in the 1930s that until 1939, it barely registered on the political spectrum. Yes, a few folks rumbled about the dangers of faciscm, but what defined progressives was overwhelmingly support for the New Deal versus opposition. Everything else was pretty marginal.
And just the equation you just did between Nazi Germany and multinationally-supported action in Afghanistan (however wrong-headed) shows why this brand of left politics is so simplistically toxic and self-destructive to the Left.
-- Nathan Newman