As I watched the blow by blow, word by word coverage of the primary season in America and of the Democratic primaries, I thought that this is the period in the United States of America when the ideology of "Paternalistic Liberalism" has reached its ultimate.
You ask, what is Paternal Liberalism? Paternal is a late middle-English word meaning father, belonging to a father. Liberalism---a middle-English word denoting a freeman, social reformer, easy going, unselfish.
The above meanings conflict one another in my opinion, because it becomes very difficulty to be both father-like and parental and yet liberal to your off spring--or should I say to people who historically have been kept under your tutelage. This ideology is very prevalent from the right and, yes, the left too.
Let's look at the Democratic primary and how the Democratic Party liberals went after a young man of mixed heritage, of a darker hue. Senator Barack Obama in a very eloquent way along the way to the nomination tried to run a "post racial campaign;" then came his victory on Super Tuesday. He won in
This patriarchal system that was created during slavery in the south is part of
I have experienced this in the left also, as an activist for 30 plus years, where liberal elite progressives in many venues always want to direct me ideologically and tell me what it means to be progressive and as long as I do not challenge their perception in the open they are happy, but when I mix it with my own theory based on practice study and practice—then it then becomes a issue.
The purpose of this ideological statement is to open a honest dialogue about race and chauvinism on all levels of
References:
"Our Time Press" June-19-25, 08 issue
Nation magazine- January 7/14, 2008,
Muata Greene is a New York-based activist, a member of AFSCME Local 2507,& CLR Endorser
