It has been a tough year for progressives.
Even before his inauguration, Donald Trump was announcing plans to dismantle many government agencies and much of the social safety net woven over the previous decades.
Many of those plans have come to fruition, as the Trump administration has dismantled hundreds of long-standing protections, Obama-era rules, and pending regulations in its first eleven months. The most public of these concern pollution and mining, accessible health care, and an open internet. And many smaller changes occur almost daily, either deliberately or due to shortages of staff and funding, and agency heads who are downright opposed to the mission of the agencies they run.
But there have been successes. Beginning the day after Trump’s inauguration, the huge women’s marches across the country showed the world a spirit of resistance. While Trump has chosen numerous mean-spirited advisors, many have been unable to remain in their positions even through a portion of their first year in office.
Victories by Democratic candidates in staunch Republican strongholds in Virginia and Alabama reveal that the president’s perceived popularity does not carry the weight he hoped it would. The success of the #MeToo movement opened a national conversation on sexual harassment and abuse. There are also a growing number of women seeking elected office—ten times as many female candidates are challenging Senate incumbents next fall than in 2012 and 2014.
Coming from a left-leaning political magazine with a nearly 109-year history, I find it reassuring to note that progressives have lived through bad times before, building movements that have stood up for peace, justice and equality. The Progressive fought corporate influence in politics in the first decades of the twentieth century, struggled along with the early women’s suffragists as they achieved the right to vote, opposed the show trials of Joseph McCarthy, and showcased some of the greatest voices for civil rights.
In the 1960s and 70s, The Progressive stood against the Vietnam War; in the 1980s, against the murderous proxy wars in Central America; and in more recent decades, against the unnecessary and devastating wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If our nation’s values are to survive the tenure of Trump, this magazine’s founding ideals must be nurtured and spread.
We must get away from seeing war and militarism as the solution to disagreement and conflict. We must create an environmental policy that addresses the existential crisis of climate change, and does not view the earth as a commodity to use for financial profit. We must treat each of our fellow humans—of any race, nationality, gender identity, or other social construct—as equally deserving of life and liberty.
Perhaps most of all, we need a political system that truly represents the voices of all people—not just those with the most money to spend.
As we head into the new year, let us remember that our nation’s values are better than its present realities. Let us honor those values and set a course for a progressive future.
Norman Stockwell is publisher of The Progressive magazine. This column was written for the Progressive Media Project, affiliated with The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.