Busting The "Conservative Nation" Myth

There is more ammunition progressive leaders can use to push for a bold policy agenda in a new report by the Campaign for America's Future and Media Matters for America. [1] That report says what we know instinctively but too many in Congress and in the political establishment seem unable or unwilling to accept: that the American majority is, in fact, a progressive majority.

Eric Lotke, research director for the Campaign for America's Future, spells it out in a commentary for TomPaine.com: [2] "America is more progressive than people think—or, more precisely, than the conventional wisdom would lead them to believe. From the economy to social issues, terrorism to trade, Americans want politicians who recognize that we’re all in it together."

As the report points out, conservatives have done a masterful job of getting the mainstream media to echo their talking point—found, for example, in a recent commentary by Heritage Foundation president Edwin J. Feulner [3]—that America is a conservative nation.

But the numbers don't back them up. On issue after issue, not just during the 2006 elections but even when conservatives were at the height of their political power, public opinion sides with progressive stances on issues rather than conservative stances.

"Progressives are on the rise and are driving the political debate," Robert L. Borosage told reporters during a conference call today. The conservative movement has had its chance to deliver on its promises but is fundamentally unable to do so, "and, as the report shows, the public gets it."

"The fact is that America is a progressive country and getting more progressive all the time," said Paul Waldman of Media Matters. While people may call themselves conservative, he said, "that doesn't tell you much about what people actually believe." Research shows that a majority does not embrace the free-market Darwinism, the aloof government and the militarism that is at the heart of conservative ideology.

Waldman used as an example changing public opinion on gay rights, a key conservative wedge issue. Civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, derided as a far-left fringe issue as late as five years ago, is now viewed as a moderate, mainstream compromise, and the percentage of the public prepared to accept full marriage equality, while still a minority, is steadily increasing. "There is this inexorable move toward the progressive side on a whole broad array of social issues," Waldman said.

"It is not simply the failure of conservatives and the trend on public opinion as a result" that is responsible for the embrace of progressive ideology in the public arena, Borosage said, but "it is the growing political sophistication and activism on the progressive side of the spectrum," as organizations learn from the experience of the conservative movement and capitalize on the tools of the new media age.

The report is a tool that progressives can use to make their case that leaders in Congress can pursue bold policies with the knowledge that if they do so smartly and unapologetically, they have the wind at their backs. The challenge now is to take this knowledge and translate it into legislative victories.

Updated 12:55 p.m. with comments from news conference.