Mr. Johnson #1 - Political Theory

One of the first topics that Mr. Johnson and I discussed was his experience in high school, and how this affected his career in politics. I carelessly asked him why he is a "liberal", and upon immediately realizing my extrapolated assumptions, Mr. Johnson gave me a unique perspective on differing political views.

The first term he identified was "Democrat". The Democratic Party has existed for over two centuries, and was constructed as a fundamental basis for a set of political ideals. Although the term is closely identified today with the term liberal, the political party as a whole has vastly changed since its formal introduction in the United States. The term under Andrew Jackson, for example, initiated several nuances in the party, such as the concept of a whig or a Jacksonian Democrat. Despite the parallels one may see between a Democrat and a liberal, the terms are fundamentally independent; the Democratic party, according to Mr. Johnson, is simply a platform for which to launch a political agenda. For Mr. Johnson, the Democratic county of District 100 of Texas best satisfies his agenda priorities.

As opposed to a political party, Mr. Johnson construed liberalism as having to do more with the fundamentals of a political ideology. It is the philosophy by which all government action for an individual is filtered through. In the context of health care, for example, the liberalist ideology is extremely biased towards a more activist and equalizing government, which health care reform is all about. The easiest way I was able to understand the difference is that while Democrat should be viewed as a subject, Liberalism should be viewed as the direct or indirect object - ie, the fundamental goal of a policymaker.

Lastly, Mr. Johnson opened up discussion on a distinct term - progressivism. As opposed to liberalism or Democrat, I view this term more as a verb, since Mr. Johnson explained of it having to do more with the application and specific implementation of a (most likely liberal) agenda. He characterized it with an example from environmental legislation. Although a liberal agenda may attempt to seriously control carbon dioxide emissions, it is politically divisive in attempting to do so. Instead, a progressive agenda would find ways to make this goal more politically palatable by making effective compromises and negotiations in order to pass legislation in a timely manner.

You may think that you are too good for a simple explanation of these generic political terms. But lets face it - with a public as naive as ours, restating the basics of political theory can only ensure clarity in public discussions.

**Note
Although Mr. Johnson was the inspirational factor in writing all of these short analyses, the blogs are still my extrapolations of his phrasing and my own understanding of the issues at hand. They, in no way, are necessarily representational of his own beliefs.