Over the weekend, Barton Swaim, a Wall Street Journal writer claims that liberalism is dead, and that Joe Biden has no vision for the future. Indeed, Swaim states that Biden and liberalism only have a vision for the past. “The important thing about modern American liberalism, he says, is that it is a spent force. It is out of ideas.”
The pervading assumption of Swaim's column is that liberalism achieved its goals and has little else to do, but tinker with the welfare state. Swaim’s rampant hypocrisy turns a blind eye to the fact that the liberal agenda has never been fulfilled, and the failure to achieve it rests on the shoulders of conservative Republicans. The conservatives have opposed attempts to assure that every man, woman, and child has adequate food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. They have resisted attempts to guarantee a job for every American who wants one. They have perpetuated a regime of income inequality, and programs involving socialism for corporations and the rich including massive tax cuts. They have combated efforts to ensure the safety of workers and the quality of our environment. They have suppressed voting, and they have a long history of opposing anti-discrimination measures.
I am not opposed to new ideas, but it is preposterous to claim that liberalism is a “spent force.” The Democratic Party has much to fight for that has been left undone. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has one new idea: Genuflect to the latest whim of a sociopathic moron. This is not a vision for the past or future. It is moral leprosy.
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