An audience member holds up a sign that reads “We Are For It” as President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally at Girard College in Philadelphia on May 29, 2024. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Liberal, progressive, conservative, MAGA. There has always been a need to label political views without recognizing that the beliefs that define them can overlap.
So, do you have the beliefs to justify the label that has been placed next to your name? It’s not the label itself that matters, but the core beliefs that have historically been attached to the label.
As a Democrat for over 80 years, I have often been in the minority when it comes to election results, but at the core of my philosophy, I have consistently supported the Democratic Party because it has always supported the voices that are least heard. With the Democratic Party’s support, we have gradually come closer to the positions I hold dear.
Hubert Humphrey once said, “The moral test of a government is how it treats those in the dawn of life, the children, the twilight of life, the aged, those in the shadows of life, the sick, the poor, the disabled.”
I’ve lived long enough and experienced enough life to not be completely naive. Not every Democrat in power puts the needs of ordinary human beings first, but in a broad sense the core beliefs of the Democratic Party still lead the way. To take one example, my belief that if the bottom and middle classes of society succeed, then all of us, including those at the top, will grow economically, as opposed to the view that economic growth at the top somehow spills over downstream, a myth that has been proven false.
Political life can be messy, which is why we need to examine what our core beliefs really are and determine which groups are more likely to support them. Elections in both parties are controlled by money and special interests, and social media sources churn out so many lies that the truth can easily get lost.
The billions of dollars pumped into elections are not given out of goodwill. Corporations and billionaires expect legislation to move in the direction they believe they paid for. The competition is fierce, but if enough people vote to elect people who are true to their ethics, core beliefs can win out.
To justify your core values, just take a look at how throughout history, people who push for positive change have been called “liberals” and those who fight for the status quo have been called “conservatives.” Social progress throughout history has been a long, slow journey. Little by little, the enlightened ideas of a few opened the eyes of others and improved the lives of those around them.
In the 18th century, the Western world was ruled by near-all-powerful monarchs and supported by those wealthy enough to control people who worked hard to survive. In that world, the Founding Fathers passionately debated and produced documents that, given their time, could only be described as surprisingly liberal.
What came out of that was an astonishing statement that would change the course of human history. Imagine creating a government by the people, for the people! Forming a system full of checks and balances so that no single group or individual had all the power! Imagine a system where people vote, debate and choose people who would make laws that would benefit all people (we don’t know all people, but many who didn’t have a voice before)! Imagine a government where religion was open to all, but completely separate from the government!
However, if we consider the world situation at the time, we can see that the new document had flaws (only landowners had the right to vote, women were banned, slavery was banned, etc.). The framers knew that opinions might change, so they wisely provided an outline for correcting what they had started. They allowed them to correct any mistakes they might have made. Greedy power-hungry people might do anything to block the changes, but they were made anyway.
The need to continue to advance social progress for all people is not over. Conservatives have blocked progress time and time again. The Equal Rights Amendment, which would guarantee protections from sex discrimination against women, failed. The John Lewis Progressive Act, which would strengthen voting rights, failed. A bipartisan border bill that would begin to ease border issues failed. The list goes on.
My fundamental belief is that Joe Biden is a good guy who works for the poor and the middle class, and he has succeeded in the face of overwhelming resistance. Examples include reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, Planned Parenthood (child care), PACT Act (veterans, health care), strengthening the Affordable Care Act, limiting insulin costs to $35 per month, an infrastructure bill, expanding internet access for all, creating 15 million jobs (800,000 in manufacturing, the highest in 50 years), a record 3.9% unemployment rate for minorities, full support for labor unions (labor unions built the middle class in the 1950s), new rights for airline passengers, passing the first gun control law in decades, and the list goes on, all to benefit ordinary Americans. And his goal is for billionaires and giant corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.
If you’re an average person like me and don’t know what Biden has accomplished, take a second look.
David Block is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Communication Design at Kutztown University.
