Liberal Democracy vs'''''' Transnational Progressivism: an Ideological War within America and betwee

1
Liberal Democracy vs...... Transnational
Progressivism anIdeological War within America
and between America andEurope

• Kate Zhou
• University of Hawaii

2
Main Points

• changing trans-Atlantic relationship
• the ideological war within America
• "transnational progressivists" and its opponents
• socialism in the US

3
The Decline of the Trans-Atlatic Relationship

• Marshal Plan/Nato/OECD
• The end of Cold War led to conflicts
• Iraq/arms embargo against China
• globalization
• 2004 US election
• the nuclear dreams of Iran and North Korea
• Hezbolah
• the Middle East crisis
• the fight over climate protection
• the role of multilateral organizations

4
American conservatives view of Eu

• economy The Europeans insist that social justice
  must have priority over the marketplace.
• Secularization of society in Europe vs. 90
  believers in US
• social conservatives Europe has legalized drugs
  and euthanasia.
• Allan Bloom in The Closing of the American
  Mind"American democracy has unwittingly played
  host to vulgarized Continental ideas of
• nihilism and despair, of relativism disguised as
  tolerance."
• Small government vs....... welfare state

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The most powerful Bill OReilly

• "The truth is that many countries dislike
  America" because of "severe differences in
  philosophy and priorities," and "because of our
  Judeo-Christian traditions as well as our
  economic and military power."

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Why is anti-AmericanismPopular today?

• No need for the USAs protection because the
  common enemy USSR disappeared
• The terrorist organization Al Qaeda does not seem
  to make an immediate threat at Europe.
• The rise of China is not regarded as a danger but
  as an opportunity of making money.
• The problem of being the only superpower (the
  most prosperous economy and the strongest
  military power).

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• The anti-Americanism unites the member countries
  of the EU
• EU member countries embrace social democracy and
  socialism
• EU a cultural advantage their philosophical
  ideas have transformed and are dominating the
  American campuses. The American left is
  Nietzscheanized.
• The Europeans are proud of their integrated
  structure---the EU.

8
The American Reaction

• The House of Representatives assed a resolution
  by a 411-3 vote that condemned the European Union
  plans to lift the arms embargo against China.
• Stop buying French made products.
• Cheese and wine sales down.

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The Ideological War Within America

• Transnational progressivism opposes capitalism
  and even endorsed a resolution condemning free
  market capitalism as a "fundamentally flawed
  system."
• Seattle riot against market capitalism and
  globalization or by intimidating, labeling, and
  slandering on the campus or in the mass media.
• The left, consisting of postmodernists, Marxists,
  environmentalists, and radical feminists, etc,
  dominates American campuses. Ward Churchill event
  and 911 events.
• Pro-market libertarians

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Transnational

• "Transnational progressivism" also challenges
  traditional American concepts of citizenship,
• assimilation, patriotism, and nation-state
  sovereignty.
• But Union concern makes flow of skilled workers
  impossible/Anti immigration from the right.
• altered the definition "globalization" from that
  of market economy to that of their political
  theory.
• altered the definition of "democracy" from that
  of a system of majority rule among equal citizens
  to one of power sharing among ethnic groups
  composed of both citizens and non-citizens.
• Even libertarians help the transnational
  progressives with their "open borders" demand.

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Communitarians

• The Democratic Party believes in using government
  in the name of equality and social justice.
• Many transnational progressive people vote for
  the Democratic Party.
• Its key political unit is not the individual
  citizen, who forms voluntary associations and
  work with fellow citizens regardless of race,
  sex, or national origin, but the racial, ethnic,
  or gender group into which one is born.
• Group rights to replace individual liberty and
  regards group proportionalism as social justice

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• the Republican Party believes in restricting the
  size of government in the name of freedom and
  personal responsibility.
• The Republican Party lays stress on individual
  liberty and the market economy, but highly
  estimates the Judeo-Christian tradition.

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What are the transnational progressive
organizations?

• EU is a large supranational macro organization.
• fifty non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
  including Amnesty International U.S.A. (AI
  U.S.A.), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Arab
  American Institute, National Council of Churches,
  the Mexican-American Legal Defense and
  Educational Fund, and others.
• the left, African American organizations, the
  feminist movement, the
• environmentalists, the Gay right movement, and
  others

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Some thoughts on the two competing political
theories

• Fukuyama's thesis about liberal democracy the
  end of history?
• The death of small government in US
• Bush/Iraq War/welfare spending
• Frustrated Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Every country will embrace some forms of
  socialism in their history.

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Socialism in The Unite States

• Thinkers Judeo-Christian equality
• Democratic Socialism/the Rise of the Welfare
  State
• John Rawlss Theory of Justice has inspired
  dominant and imaginative landscape of American
  political theorists.
• What are the just terms on which people should
  cooperate with one another in society?
• tolerate inequality only to the extent that
  inequality benefits the worse-off members of
  society

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Government Policies

• FDR s New Deal liberalism (during the WWII)
• Lyndon Johnson' War on Poverty encouraged people
  to get on welfare
• Progressive tax code the rich pay 85 of all
  taxes in the US.
• Affirmative action (gender, race and class).
• Unemployment Compensation
• The American Disability Law
• Bankruptcy law chapter 8 problems
• Health care and long term care
• Trade quota system
• Social equality

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Social Practices

• American Public Schools
• Multiculturalism
• Political correct
• Gay rights
• Group rights
• Socialist Organizations in the US
• The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)
  lthttp//bernie.house.gov/pc/members.aspgt
• http//www.socialdemocrats.org
• The Progressive Congressional Caucus,
  http//bernie.house.gov/pc/members.asp. 
• American Communist Party
• http//www.cpusa.org/

18
Which road should China take?