As a self-described moderate conservative, I’ve watched with growing concern the rapid advance of progressivism in America over the past several decades. What was once a fringe ideology confined mostly to college campuses and urban enclaves has now firmly taken root in the Democratic party and mainstream culture. While I respect the passion and idealism of many progressive activists, I fear that the unchecked march of their agenda has inflicted serious damage on the bedrock institutions and values that have sustained our society.
In my view, the embrace of radical left-wing policies on issues like social justice, identity politics, and environmental regulation has come at a great cost. The relentless promotion of critical race theory and intersectionality in our schools has sowed division and resentment, pitting Americans against each other based on race, gender, and sexual orientation. The crackdown on perceived “hate speech” and “microaggressions” has had a chilling effect on free speech and open discourse. And the demonization of traditional cultural and religious values as inherently oppressive has eroded the shared sense of national identity and common purpose that once bound us together.
Likewise, the progressive war on fossil fuels, in the name of addressing climate change, has kneecapped our energy independence and caused immense economic hardship for working families struggling with skyrocketing gas and electricity prices. The gutting of law enforcement budgets and the vilification of the police, under the banner of criminal justice reform, has led to soaring crime rates and lawlessness in many of our cities. And the normalization of gender ideology and the medicalization of childhood gender dysphoria is, in my view, causing irreparable harm to vulnerable young people.
Of course, I don’t mean to suggest that all progressive ideas are misguided or destructive. I believe in protecting the environment, upholding civil rights, and creating economic opportunities for the disadvantaged. But the current iteration of progressivism has, in my opinion, become dangerously unmoored from common sense, empirical reality, and the bedrock values that have sustained America for generations. Unless there is a course correction, I fear that the fabric of our society will continue to unravel, with dire consequences for us all.
