For several years, one of most annoying (and misleading) aspects of American political debate has been the insistence of participants on defining our differences as “left” and “right.” The MAGA cult, especially, has delighted in portraying all non-MAGA Americans as hated “libruls,” and–far from challenging their policy preferences–has displayed a child-like delight in “owning the libs,” seemingly unconcerned that their “successes” in that effort tend to hurt them more than their targets.
America’s liberals have historically been far more centrist and un-ideological than those in European countries, but today, the terminology simply fails to convey the reality of MAGA versus everyone else. So it may be useful to ask ourselves a question: In today’s political environment, what constitutes the “Left”?
Two paragraphs–an aside, really– from one of Heather Cox Richardson’s recent “Letters” provides an accurate answer to that question. While Richardson’s letter wasn’t focused on political language, the introduction to her discussion of the Trump administration’s devotion to Project 2025 aptly captured the essence of today’s political divide:
The craziness going on around us in the first two months of the second Trump administration makes a lot more sense if you remember that the goal of those currently in power was never simply to change the policies or the personnel of the U.S. government. Their goal is to dismantle the central pillars of the United States of America—government, law, business, education, culture, and so on—because they believe the very shape of those institutions serves what they call “the Left.”
Their definition of “the Left” includes all Americans, Republicans and Independents as well as Democrats, who believe the government has a role to play in regulating business, providing a basic social safety net, promoting infrastructure, and protecting civil rights and who support the institutional structures Americans have built since World War II.
Let me repeat that second paragraph, because it is an incredibly important description of our current reality:
Their definition of “the Left” includes all Americans, Republicans and Independents as well as Democrats, who believe the government has a role to play in regulating business, providing a basic social safety net, promoting infrastructure, and protecting civil rights and who support the institutional structures Americans have built since World War II.
The differences that existed between Left and Right when I was first involved in politics were far different than they are today. The Republican Party in which I worked for some 35 years (a party that no longer exists) had firm principles about the proper, limited uses of government power and authority. Admittedly, that party had its far-Right fringe, just as the Democrats had its collectivist-Left, but the GOP’s establishment was generally successful in isolating the Christian Nationalists and neo-Nazis that have always been in its midst.
Back then, establishment Republicans and Democrats argued about policy–about what constituted the proper and improper uses of government power, and/or the efficient/effective management of government programs.
What should government do about the struggle of poor families to feed their children? Should ameliorative efforts be left to the voluntary sector? To the states? If the federal government should be involved, how should its programs be fashioned?
When it came to foreign affairs, there was broad agreement that policy squabbles should not extend beyond the ocean’s edge–and a common commitment to a government that stood by America’s allies and promoted peace and democracy abroad. It’s true–and unfortunate– that America’s leaders too often misused the nation’s power and lost sight of the country’s fundamental philosophical commitments, but never in our history did either party heedlessly and overtly side with the country’s enemies over our allies.
Our internal fights to extend civil rights did tend to break down over party lines, but when I was an active Republican, the vast majority of Republicans I worked with rejected racism and agreed that the nation’s laws should be applied evenly and fairly. Today, MAGA Republicans’ devotion to Donald Trump rests largely on their wholehearted support of his efforts to take the country back to the days of Jim Crow.
Bottom line: The “libs” that MAGA delights in “owning” are the Americans who believe in retaining a government that operates under the Constitution and respects the rule of law. Full stop. We may disagree strongly about aspects of that operation, about the extent of federal authority, about the optimum contours of our social safety net, over what constitutes “merit”–but today, the “Left” that MAGA hates is composed of all conservatives and liberals who believe in retaining a government that answers to We the People.
According to MAGA, any American who wants to retain our democratic republic is a Leftist.
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