Religious, Agnostic and Atheistic Progressives

Religious Freedom
Bridging the Gap Between Religious, Agnostic and Atheistic Progressives.

by Ed Kaine

I believe in Freedom of Religion. It is enshrined in the Constitution's Establishment Clause; it forbids government from favoring one religion over another, or religion over secularism. 

Government's role is to protect and empower the people. I am free to worship, believe or disbelieve anything I choose. In fact I have a belief that, like waves on the shore, no 2 believers have the exact same concept of God. 

I am personally a complex Christian. I came to my personal brand of faith through a study of many religions, philosophies and practices as well as exploring atheism. I enjoy religious references and allegories in literature and have read and studied religious books. 

  -  "I bristle when the Strict Father model is applied to God and Jesus."  -

I find certain things draw me closer to God and some things distance me from God. In particular, I  bristle when the Strict Father model is applied to God and Jesus. To me Jesus was the ideal model of the Nurturing Parent.

I believe in the Social Justice Jesus who advocated for all people to be more free. His teachings all fit within a model where people are Nurtured and Supported. The freedom Jesus taught was freedom like Franklin Delano Roosevelt's four freedoms: Freedom of speech and religion and freedom from want and fear.

-  "The freedom Jesus taught was freedom like Franklin Delano Roosevelt's four freedoms: Freedom of speech and religion and freedom from want and fear."  -

In short, I believe and, think all Progressives believe, in a Nurturant Role for Government. Whether there is a physical, non-physical, metaphysical, metaphorical God or even if there is no God we want similar things for our country and our world.

I believe that if we are successful it is due to the heroic actions of our inventors and workers, people who work to improve life for themselves and others. To me they do this because of their desire to help their families, communities, their country and their world. I acknowledge that some believe this is God acting through them, personally I don't. I do believe in anyone's freedom to believe anything they want.

Ultimately, this is what Big Tent Progressives is about. Unifying all progressives because of their belief in the Nurturant Parent metaphor for Government. If we put aside our philosophical arguments about God and Man we can focus on the things that hold us together.


If you'd like more information please email: BigTentProgressives@gmail.com.

Destroying the Myth of the Radical Left

Political Alignment Graph

Dispelling the Myth of the Radical Left in America

  There is no Radical Left in America! This is a myth that was cooked up by a very active Radical Right. The Political Alignment Graph reveals that the Democratic Party solidly occupies the center.

  The proof is in how the Progressives and the Conservatives handle these 2 domains of freedom.

• Economic Freedom - How the government controls or regulates the economy.
• Social Freedom - How the government controls or regulates your daily choices.

On Social and Economic Freedoms the

center belongs to the Democratic Party.

Economic Freedom

   The spectrum of economic freedom runs from

• Communism - Government owns and controls all the means of production.
• Corporatism - Corporations are unregulated and act as de facto private government.

  The GOP seeks to privateer publicly owned resources, like military functions (Blackwater), and defund and destroy publicly held infrastructure and services. In their view corporations should be free to pollute, surveil, sell your information, etc. without regulation.

  Democrats seek regulation in order to fulfill the moral mission of government, to protect and empower the people. That means sensible regulations to prevent pollution of our common air and water, and fair taxation for use of the common wealth like roads. These sensible regulations with no efforts to own factories, and the means of production puts them in the center.

  If there were a left in America is would be like seeing advocates for the failed economic policies of the Soviet Union. There are very few communists in America. 

Social Freedom

  The spectrum of social freedom runs from:

• Authoritarianism - Government monitors and controls what you think, do and say.
• Anarchy - No restrictions, including no protections from others (eg. Mad Max).

  The GOP is very authoritarian. The GOP seeks to devise a police state where you will be monitored and controlled. They seek to control who you can marry and what you can talk about. They also work to limit women's working rights and reproductive rights. They line up around issues that give more drastic powers to law enforcement to the military including powers to detain American citizens.

  Of note is the Right Wing Libertarian who is loosely defined but is being co-opted by radical corporatists like Ron Paul. If the libertarian cares more about social liberty he will vote for a Democrat. If he cares more about freedom for corporations to concentrate wealth and to become the de facto private government then he will vote for the GOP.   

  The Democrats work to maintain and increase freedom wherever they can. They work to protect the people by having sensible laws that prevent or limit harm to others while increasing freedoms to do things that don't limit the freedoms of others. If what you are doing is not a significant harm to others or your community it will often be supported.

The Myth of the Center

  The myth of the center is that by ignoring the real spectrum the center is shifted towards the right. Democrats are solidly in the center.

  Now, imagine the so called moderate who exists in the mythical space between the Democrats and the GOP... what do they look like? Is this moderate someone who wants a little less regulation of corporations and a little more authoritarian control over their social lives? Moving the debate so that Democrats represented the Left and even painting them as Radical Left is ridiculous. It is either misinformed or a calculated lie.

Is the mythical moderate someone who wants a little less regulation of corporations and a little more authoritarian control over their social lives?

Independent voters don't fit nicely into this mythical space. They mostly fall all over the spectrum and even vary on different issues. By letting this myth continue the Democrats do a great disservice to America.

America is historically Progressive. We cannot be ashamed to say it. In a time of Kings America decided that it could form a democracy. Our task is as plain as when Lincoln declared at Gettysburg "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Nurturant Parent Versus Strict Father Morality by George Lakoff

The view of Strict Father Morality is explained and contrasted with Nurturant Parent Morality. The children of Nurturant Parents are more intelligent, more creative and more humane.

"The basis of Democracy is Empathy."

Enjoy George Lakoff in this and in his books.

There Are No Moderates - George Lakoff

The Nurturant Parent Morality or the Strict Father Morality may exist on any given topic... but never at the exact same time about the exact same topic. There is no way to move a little to the right or to the left on a subject; instead you must use the opposite morality in order to understand the other perspective.

Enjoy this talk by George Lakoff.

Scientific Progressives and Scientific Fact

1 + 1 = 2

This is a fundamental theory of mathematics. If it were proven wrong a lot would crumble. Despite this, if someone proved it untrue scientists would test it, discuss it, and if confirmed, the new theory would be accepted. That's how science works... even things as fundamental as 1 + 1 = 2 could be reviewed and a more perfect truth can be considered.

In the political world conservatives denounce science as "just a theory". But to a scientist: scientific theory = scientific fact.

Scientific Theory = Scientific Fact 

Conservatives have been engaged in a war on science. Their policies fail again and again when tested against reality. In the areas of economics, Global warming, evolution and myriad of other areas conservatives are wrong. Their philosophies and their strict father values require that they tow the party line, even when it is proven false.

The last decade was the warmest on record. We don't have time for conservatives to be wrong again. Science isn't a matter of opinion. Using the complexities of science to confuse people in order to win votes is wrong.

The Moral Mission of government is to protect and empower the people. Global warming is a serious threat, we need governments to work together to protect the people and to empower people to find solutions to the problem. I am a scientific progressive because I believe in a way forward for America.

Join us to help bring your progressive vision to America.

For more information about Scientific Hypotheses, Theories and Laws see http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistry101/a/lawtheory.htm.

Just a moment's thought. By Scuba Steve

It's been some time now that I have been staying at Occupy New Haven (O.N.H.).  There has been a lot of experiences that I've never had the option to try, but I've done them here.  I've found my stay here in this Occupy has been one that I will never forget. It truly has moved me, inspired me, in a way that I will never get out of my mind.

• Be you.
• Do good for others.
• Cherish your community.

These are just some of the concepts that they've showed me.

Not to mention the amount of people that are with this movement. The crazy walks were you feel the voice of a crowd talking in unison.  Where you feel the entire body vibrating because all the people chanting, yelling, becoming one.  Being able to see an entire society be created, all on the same or a similar basis.

More deeply into the people of this place...  there are huge variety of people staying, or passing through.  People yelling nonsense out there, cuts to the occupants passing by from other occupies.  The majority's people are great. "Inspiring individuals" is the best way to describe them.  People that find it easy to talk to others, to show other people that what they are living in is a horrible scam.

The living style is unique also.  Tents on the city green.  Communities within other communities.  One based solely on greed and the other exact opposite.  At the present moment I am learning about this movement and other movements like it, in the United States and other places.

To be continued. . .



This was transcribed from Greg's written notes by Ed Kaine. Greg is also known as Scuba Steve.  Scuba Steve has been with Occupy New Haven since day one.

"The Message" a Spiritual Progressive at Occupy New Haven speaks.

The Message

The pain of the truth can be overcome; but the scar of a lie is hard to erase. 

The most devastating lies that are ever told are the ones that we allow ourselves to believe.

There is much much more to this world than that that can be seen through the naked eye.

It is hidden deep within our hearts underneath our tattered skin,

the compassion and the kindness of our fellow man is still thriving

underneath the scars of an oftentimes careless and cruel society. 

In the screams of a mother lashing out of her children and in the crackling hand

of a father blistering the back of his child is a need to be heard,

but with words that cannot be spoken,

but are said so loud and clear by the deeds that are so unbecoming of humanity.

It is a worldwide problem provoked and promoted by the fast paced environment

to which we have created for ourselves in search of material satisfactions. 

A man's true value will never be measured by the scales of materialism,

but by the depth of understanding and the suffering of his soul. 

For as a man must feel the glories and pleasures of love,

so must he feel the deep suffering of his soul for knowledge

in order to find true happiness and respect for life itself. 

The key has been provided now, open the door.

"The Message" was written 20 years ago by Timothy A. C. aka Chief Strong Medicine, Crow Nation. It was recited to me last night and today it was given to me with time to transcribe it word for word that I might share it. Timothy is one of the Occupiers of New Haven and has proven a strong resource to the occupiers as he is organized and prepared to help. He is also a deeply spiritual man with a progressive vision for America and for the world.

20 years ago Timothy awoke from sleep in the middle of the night with a drive to "go write this, go write this..." In his state of sleep following an evening of social drinking he picked up paper and pen and wrote the passage above. Timothy confesses that he has a formal 7th grade education and suffers from dyslexia; when he wrote this he felt it was divinely inspired as it forced his hand to write in something he called "automatic writing". In the morning he read it and has committed it to memory; he now carries it now ingrained and etched in his mind. He told me this because he said it was "difficult to assume much responsibility for the words, the only thing I could say is, I was a seeker who was willing to listen." He feels he has been unable to receive and more prophetic information until he let it go, "I have personally suffered enormously carrying these burdens."

"I can't tell you how eternally pleased I am to let it go." And then he started to cry. 

Welcome to BigTentProgressives.org Blog!

BigTentProgressives.Org is working to unify all progressives.

Our Mission: To unify the diverse Progressive voices by identifying and promoting our shared values.

Progressives believe Government's Moral Mission is

to Protect and Empower the People.

Our Vision: The shared values of Empathy and Responsibility will be a foundation to support our Working Together for a stronger America and a better world. We will explore these values together as we see how the complexity of issues align by these values.

Our Members: Come from a wide range of backgrounds. Each are Progressives or Independents for various reasons.
The major groups of Progressives Include:

• Socioeconomic Progressives
• Identity-Politics Progressives
• Environmental Progressives
• Civil Liberties Progressives
• Spiritual Progressives
• Atheistic Progressives
• Anti-Authoritarian Progressives
• Idealists, Pragmatists and Militants
• Realistic or Scientific Progressives

Progressives tend to be divided by issues, modes of thought and attitude.¹ The focus on these differences blinds us to the fact that we share common values; values that we can organize and understand.
Metaphors we live by: the "Nation-As-A-Family" metaphor. This is not meant to be literal but as a way to conceptualize the way things work. For instance, it is used when people talk about the budget as if it were a family budget, while no family would have a 1/2 trillion dollars in gold sitting around... but the USA does. The metaphor helps explain and sometimes gets in the way. At any rate it is useful.

There is a major difference between

Progressives and Conservatives!

Progressive and Conservative Metaphors: Progressives naturally apply values consistent with a Nurturing Parent in the Nation-As-A-Family metaphor. Conservatives fall to a Strict Father view. Once again, this is not literal but when you are deciding how to recover from an economic crisis Progressives would want to support the nation as it gets back on its feet, while Conservatives would prefer to punish America for getting into trouble in the first place... even if it was their policies that caused the problem. 

There are fewer value differences between the various groups of Progressives than there are between Progressives and Conservatives.

America is essentially Progressive: Imagine, when the world was ruled by kings, the founding fathers rejected that hierarchy and created a government by the people and for the people. There are far more actual progressive independents in America, in some cases they have been told that they are conservatives and they believed it. We will bring those people back to the Center of Politics.

Political Alignment Graph and the Myth of the Center: When you look at the domains of Social Freedom and Economic Freedom the 2 American Parties fall into certain regions. When these are plotted on a graph it becomes clearer where the 2 Parties fall. The myth of the center is that by ignoring the real spectrum the center is shifted towards the right. If there is a Center the Democrats are solidly in it.

 

 The center of the possible political spectrum on Social and Economic Freedom belongs to the Democratic Party.

What we're not trying to do:

• Alienate people - If we have offended please let us know.
• Make you change your family or parenting style (the metaphor of Nation-As-A-Family) is not to be taken literally. However, the more nurturing parent behaviors you exhibit the more creative, open and humane your children will be.
• If you do have a Strict Father parenting style but believe that the Moral Mission of government should be to Protect and Empower the people we don't want to drive you to become a conservative. We believe that the Nurturing Parent metaphor is more successful (Under GWB's Strict Father Presidency we got several massive and permanent failures that may take decades to recover from... this is after Clinton delivered peace and prosperity with a Nurturant Parent Presidency.
• To explain away failures due to things like competence or luck when it is clearly the values that are the problem. Conservative values fail America in part because their values are less effective at dealing with a complex world.

This is BigTentProgressives and you can be a part of it:

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Thanks so much for reading about this.

Yours,

Ed Kaine, CoFounder BigTentProgressives.org