‘Progressive’ now means the opposite of its classical definition By Richard W. Rahn Comment

       

Commentary Thoughts

       Richard W. Rahn, a senior at Cato Institute, chairman of Institute for Global Economics, and writes weekly economics column for the Washington Times, wrote a commentary about the two conflicting views towards the role of government. He wrote about the difference between statists and libertarians, which is that the statists believe in the group as a whole. Libertarians believe in individualism and tend to look to the private sector to solve problems. He says, "Sloppy journalists often refer to this struggle as being between the right and left, which loses much of its meaning." He also compared liberals in Europe and liberals in America. The difference is that in Europe they tend to lean to a less intrusive government, while America believes in a bigger and more intrusive government. He then writes about how it "would be useful if those who write on politics would replace the terms 'right' and 'left,' and 'liberal,' 'progressive,' 'moderate' and 'conservative' with 'libertarian' and 'statist' — where appropriate, by using language and labels more carefully and precisely". Rahn ends his commentary with  "Better to be an 'Old Whig' (which is traditional) on most issues, rather than a 'new socialist' look". 

        I agree with Rahn on some of the things he said, and I disagree with other things he wrote. I agree with him on what he believes is "sloppy journalists" because I find it very confusing and i do believe it waters down what statists and libertarians truly mean. I also agree with his position on changing the terms with "right", "left", etc. That way, it would be less confusing for people who do or don't understand the terms/words used in politics. Even though I agree with most of what he said, I do disagree with one comment Rahn made in his commentary. He had said that it's "Better to be an Old Wig..." , which I highly disagree with. The first thing that came to my mind was slavery and African American/ African American descent movement of Civil Rights. Another one that came to my mind was Women Rights. I believe that change is great and we don't need an old wing approach. If we still did, many wouldn't have the rights we have now.