June 25, 2015
Plus a third Dan in the race, and a discussion of some well known political words
I’m the first to admit that I don’t keep a close watch on the government of Albany County. But despite not paying attention, my gaze keeps getting drawn in that direction so that I often surprise myself with how much I know about the County. And there’s nothing like a loudly contested election to draw everybody’s reluctant interest along with mine.
It’s the Democratic Primary in September that we’re talking about of course. All the County offices are up for election but the big race is for County Executive. One term incumbent Dan McCoy, a former County legislator, is being challenged by former City of Albany School Board President Dan Egan. For a lot of people this is a tough call, that is, for those of us voters who don’t hold grudges or have a specific axe to grind over the personalities and associations of the two candidates.
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy And Former City Of Albany School Board President Dan Egan
The very interesting thing about this race is that it reflects a growing trend across the country, the movement of acceptable political discourse away from the corporatist radical right and closer to the political center where most Americans reside. Of course this is Albany, NY, not Lower Wifebeater, Texas. A strong majority of voters in Albany County have no use for the inhuman corporate centralism espoused by the rad righties in such places, most of us take it as a given that the function of government is to serve the people of the community.
Thus we are seeing both the incumbent and the challenger falling all over each other insisting that each is more Progressive than the other. A glance at Mr. McCoy’s campaign website has an entire section called Progress, on which the very first line is “Innovative approaches through smart and progressive management.” Indeed his campaign slogan on the home page is “Progress. Together.” In a recent press release he pointed to his “incredible progressive record.”
Mr. Egan also uses the word “progressive” a lot, he uses the phrase “Lifelong Progressive” prominently, so as to counter the incumbent’s claim on progress. In his official announcement, he promised to deliver “progressive leadership.” In one of his first TV interviews he declared outright that he is the more progressive candidate. On Facebook he wrote “Albany County needs real, progressive, professional leadership, and needs it now.”
Dan McCoy Announcing His Run For Reelection
Just what does this word mean? We all know it’s not the same as the old fashioned notion of Progress, or Progressivism, that “advancement in science, technology, economic development, and social organization are vital to improve the human condition” (Wikipedia.) However the word does indeed derive from that once dominant idea, a philosophy developed in the 17th and 18th centuries that replaced a more restrictive religious basis for Western civilization.
Back in the late 20th Century (like when I was a kid) “Progress” as a notion had become a propaganda tool of “The Establishment,” that is, The Authorities who dictated policies that all the rest of us were supposed to accept without question. For many of us this amounted to helplessly watching the filthy tide of uncontrolled sprawl advance around our homes, destroying the landscape beyond repair and failing to establish a sustainable urban infrastructure in its place. The resigned phrase “You Can’t Fight City Hall” was the widespread justification for passive acceptance of this degradation.
These days most people assume that Progressive is a substitute for the word Liberal, a word which back in the 1980s was subject to a very successful campaign by the corporate media to attach a negative connotation. Liberalism is the basis upon which the American Revolution was fought, therefore Liberalism is the foundation upon which this country and this empire rests. The still ongoing campaign to vilify Liberalism is basically a campaign to undermine American sovereignty and freedom, the destruction of which is at the core of the corporate political agenda.
Dan Egan Announces His Run For County Executive
The best definition of the two words I can find is that “Liberalism is a set of ideals grounded in the social contract (rule by consent of the governed for mutual benefit),” while “Progressivism is a problem solving method.” The self-identified Liberal site Politicus USA Points out (perhaps not the best example):
The progressive method is not an ideology but a pragmatic search for solutions that work, grounded in a healthy skepticism. Thus, for example, Prohibition was a progressive project and was based on the social science of that era, but “The Great Experiment” of Prohibition failed in practice and progressives also worked for its repeal. The 20th century can reasonably be summarized as the rise and spread of the progressive method.