Hello Everyone:
My name is Robert Lasner, and I am the publisher of Ig Publishing (www.igpub.com), an independent press based in Brooklyn, NY. We are the publishers of Confessions of a Former Dittohead (April) based on Jim Derych's (Advisor Jim) diaries here on Kos. I know that many of you have supported Jim during the web version of his transformation, and I hope you will do so when that transformation comes to the printed page.
Right now, I want to tell you about a book we just released called Proud To Be Liberal. The book is an all-star anthology of writers, activists, scholars, cartoonists and bloggers--STEVE ALMOND, ERIC ALTERMAN, BLANCHE WIESEN COOK, WILL DURST, DANNY GOLDBERG, BOB HARRIS, THOM HARTMANN, LAILA LALAMI (MOORISH GIRL), MAUD NEWTON, NEAL POLLACK, TED RALL, DAVID REES, DANNY SCHECHTER, BILL SCHER (LIBERAL OASIS), JEN SORENSEN (SLOWPOKE COMICS), RALPH TEMPLE, TOM TOMORROW, HARVERY WASSERMAN, MATTHEW YGLESIAS AND ERIC ZORN.
Over the coming weeks, I will be posting selections from the book, so you can get a taste for what is inside. Hopefully, it will interest you enough to buy the book.
Today's post is from the introduction by myself and co-editor Elizabeth Clementson.
From Proud To Be Liberal.
One of the right's most effective strategies has been turning "liberal" into a dirty word, akin to "anti-American," "Communist," even "Nazi." All a Republican has to do is call someone a liberal to send them into convulsions of fear and denial.
Attacking liberals is not a new thing. In the 1960s liberals were referred to as "bleeding-hearts" to describe those who opposed the Vietnam War and favored government assistance for the poor.
But at least back then, when attacked, liberals stood up and defended themselves. This type of passion has been sadly lacking over the past few decades.
Even those on the left who still have some fight in them have become bogged down in the label battle, as the current fascination with alt-liberal terms such as "progressive" or "leftist" or "radical" shows. While there is nothing wrong with calling yourself any of these things, those who use such terms to define themselves miss a larger point: to the majority of Americans, the battle is between "liberals" and "conservatives," and calling yourself something else effectively transforms you from participant to sideline observer in the struggle. While it may be a sad commentary on today's political discourse that we have to so simplify things, this is, unfortunately, where things stand. In our media-drenched world, the fight over labels causes disunity among people on the left who agree on most issues, and distracts us from fighting the real enemy.
Although only one out of every five Americans currently identify as liberal, a majority of Americans still support and believe in liberal programs, like Social Security. While Republicans have been popularizing name-calling in thirty-second sound bites, discussions about the issues have been pushed aside. And so, while we're distracted with hate rhetoric, conservatives have been able to advance their goals of rolling back the gains of the liberal movement.
When confronted by a bully, you have two choices: appeasement, or standing up and fighting. As long as Democrats and those on the left run from the "L-Word," trying to appease the right by running from their own heritage, Republicans will hunt them down with it. Our only choice is to stand up to the right-wing bullies whom we have been allowing to push us around for far too long. Too many on the left have become unaccustomed to fighting; compromise has ruled too many a day and ruined too many of the liberal policies that revolutionized this country. There is a risk to standing up and fighting -- you may end up with a bloody nose -- but only by standing up and fighting do you have a chance to win.