Cenk Uygur on what progressives believe

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Cenk Uygur mentions that progressives believe in 2 things:

1.) Expanding the circle of liberty and
2.) Equality of opportunity

Right-wingers like to say that progressives believe in equality of outcome, but that is not true. For example, in health care, you don't have opportunity if you're dead.

The difficulty is how does one measure equality of opportunity? Many progressives will look at outcomes to make their arguments.

The issue with progressives and conservatives is not that they want fundamentally different things. Most want the same things. They just disagree widely on how to get there.

If a person gets sick and can't afford to go to the doctor, and they have a condition which is fatal if untreated but often survival is assured if treated, then they die. That represents a lost opportunity.

You guys would say ensuring everyone can go to the doctor would represent "equality of outcome" because you ignore the opportunity cost that comes with the person's unnecessary and untimely death.

Most likely TYT want to decrease liberty and decrease opportunity by taking (taxing) your money from you.

The progressives of the progressive era were the main instigators of eugenics. It was largely based on bigotry. A bad side Cenk conveniently forgot to mention.

Today the term progressive covers a wide range of people from what was called “liberal” in the 60’s and 70’s think Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale to Democratic Socialists and SJW’s.

Yup, they did. Keep in mind, though, that at the time such bigotry was extremely common. Cenk never argues that such progressives were perfect. He called the Founding Fathers progressives despite still holding slaves, for example, because they had mentioned we should keep "perfecting the Union". The circle of liberty gets bigger and bigger.

When we speak of the "Founding Fathers," I believe we should consider think the concept called "context of the times."

Like Beneficii stated, their views would seem quite odious to a progressive person of the 21st century----but to an 18th century person, they would have been seen as being the "progressives of their time."

Thomas Jefferson, for example, thought that slavery was an abominable practice, especially in the abstract; however, he was economically dependent upon the "peculiar institution," and, therefore, averse to actual efforts at the emancipation of the slaves.

It would be correct to call him something of a "hypocrite," even within an 18th century context. However, (though the slaves of the time, obviously, could not have envisioned this), his abstract belief in the abomination of slavery evolved, over some generations, into a view which enabled the emancipation of the slaves some 80 or so years later.

Last edited by kraftiekortie on 22 Aug 2019, 8:49 am, edited 2 times in total.

Who the hell is Cenk Uygur and why the hell should I care?

Yes, it makes me feel anger when one stranger expects me to care about another stranger's opinions.

There is a move among certain progressives to cancel the founding fathers because of they were slave owners or use that as proof that America was founded racist and thus is inherently evilly racist. Saying that is just how it was is thought to be proof you are racist.

He is the founder and co-host of “The Young Turks” one of the most popular online political programs.
Cenk Uygur Just Might Be the Future of Liberal Media

Political News Outlet Young Turks Raises $20 Million After Viewership Gains

I know who you're talking about, but Cenk Uygur is not in that camp. Cenk and TYT have been quite critical of political correctness:

I've never heard of him nor his program. Then again, I'm neither Turkish, progressive, nor an SJW.

As shown in the video immediately above your post, Cenk opposes political correctness.

I believe that liberty can be put into two different camps.

Negative liberty is the liberation from external forces. Examples would be rights to be protections from search an seizure, protections from violence, and generally protections from other people getting in your way.

Positive liberty is the liberty to do as you desire. Positive liberty would be things like the right to choose your own career, and generally the right to choose and pursue goals of your own choice.

People on the left tend to focus on positive liberty, and people on the right tend to focus on negative liberty.

It's illegal in the US to deny someone emergency medical care. Such treatment would qualify:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency ... _Labor_Act

As for the rest, I'll actually have to watch Cenk's video before I comment more fully. Specifically what comes to mind in the equality of opportunity versus equality of outcomes is the affirmative action debate, not the healthcare debate.

The premise behind affirmative action is that a lack of outcomes for certain groups is caused by a lack of opportunity.

He’s a hardcore leftish and refuses to acknowledge genocide.