The Conscience of a Progressive

By Steven Klees

'Prof. Klees' book is a must read for anyone interested in politics, economics, and education today. During the latter part of the 20th century, in far too many countries we have witnessed an unconscionable and steady shift to the right by liberals and social democratic parties resulting in a neoliberal consensus. Prof Klees' critique from a progressive perspective is extremely timely as it contributes to a necessary strategic reflection on how to rebuild a truly progressive movement.' General Secretary, Education International, the global teachers' union

The Conscience of a Progressive begins where Senator Barry Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative (1960) and Paul Krugman's The Conscience of a Liberal (2007) leave off. Prof. Klees draws on 45 years of work around the world as an economist and international educator to paint a detailed picture of conservative, liberal, and progressive views on a wide range of current social issues. He takes an in-depth look at his specializations: education, economics, poverty and inequality, international development, and capitalism. He examines major social problems like health care, the climate crisis, and war. Throughout the book, Prof. Klees tries to give a fair and careful depiction of how conservatives and liberals see these issues, whilst focusing on critiques by progressives, and on the alternatives they offer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
• Release date: Oct 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781789044973

Steven Klees

Steven Klees is a professor of International Education Policy at the University of Maryland who specializes in education, economics, and international development. He has previously taught at Cornell University, Stanford University, Florida State University, and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil. He has a Ph.D. from Stanford University. His work examines the political economy of education and development. He lives in Silver Spring, MD, USA.

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What people are saying about

The Conscience of a Progressive

The Conscience of a Progressive is...essential reading in our current political moment. Steven Klees parses the foundational differences between conservative, liberal and progressive analysis, worldview and policy programs...This book is a substantive primer to ideas and programmatic distinctions that goes beyond horse-race political reporting. A valuable roadmap to the power of progressive thinking and policy.

Chuck Collins: Institute for Policy Studies, co-editor, Inequality. org, author, Born on Third Base

In these very troubling times Klees’ book avoids merely cataloging crimes to smartly critique conservative and liberal perspectives and reflect on...positive contributions of progressives on many critical issues.

Michael Albert: Author of Practical Utopia: Strategies for a Desirable Society and co-founder Z Magazine and South End Press

Steven Klees has written an ambitious and fascinating book, his crisp and engaging words cover everything from debates around sexuality to economic justice, education and development. The progressive contrasts with the conservative by standing for a more equal and ecological society, and the liberal in arguing that structural alternatives are necessary. This book will attract attention and readers in an America where progressive and practical policy solutions are increasingly in demand.

Derek Wall: Author of Economics After Capitalism: A Guide to the Ruins and a Road to the Future and former principal spokesperson for the UK Green Party

Prof Klees’ book is a must read for anyone interested in politics, economics, and education today. During the latter part of the twentieth century, in far too many countries we have witnessed an unconscionable and steady shift to the right by liberals and social democratic parties resulting in a neoliberal consensus. Prof Klees’ critique from a progressive perspective is extremely timely as it contributes to a necessary strategic reflection on how to rebuild a truly progressive movement.

David Edwards: General Secretary, Education International, the global teachers union

Professor Steven Klees, through succinct and accessible prose, delivers, from the perspective of a progressive worldview, a lively commentary on the key issues of our time – education and socioeconomic development but also climate change, healthcare, war, and more...His refreshing analysis comes at a time when it is most needed – a time when the dominant neoliberal discourse stifles the search for alternatives and remains largely unchallenged. A time when social development, the environment and reason face sustained assault and when the world lurches inexorably and dangerously toward ecological disasters and the barbarism of devastating wars. Klees lucidly unravels the basis for the global triple scourge of poverty, inequality, and discrimination and reveals the threads connecting class inequality with racism, sexism, heterosexism and ableism that make up the social fabric of the global order while suggesting much-needed alternatives. He brings to bear his considerable experience of 5 decades of professional life and his rich body of work spans 30 countries. This crucial book answers critical questions for anyone seeking progressive change. It is also a spur to new struggles – and to new possibilities.

Salim Vally: Professor, University of Johannesburg and Director, Center for Education Rights and Transformation, co-author of Education, Economy and Society

Steven Klees has written an important and well-argued case for a new left politics that draws on the best of the old. He draws on his deep and extensive knowledge of education, and therefore of the potential of human beings if given the resources and encouragement to realise this potential, to present an original perspective on what it means to be progressive in the US today. It’s a book which should be published and published soon as the issue of political alternatives to the present chaos gets urgent!

Hilary Wainwright: Author of A New Politics from the Left, former member of the editorial board of the New Left Review, current editor of Red Pepper, and Fellow at the Transnational Institute

The Conscience of a Progressive

The Conscience of a Progressive

Steven Klees

Winchester, UK

Washington, USA

First published by Zero Books, 2020

Zero Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., No. 3 East St., Alresford,

Hampshire SO24 9EE, UK

[e-mail]

www.johnhuntpublishing.com

www.zero-books.net

For distributor details and how to order please visit the ‘Ordering’ section on our website.

© Steven Klees 2019

ISBN: 978 1 78904 496 6

978 1 78904 497 3 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019948449

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

The rights of Steven Klees as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design: Stuart Davies

UK: Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

US: Printed and bound by Thomson-Shore, 7300 West Joy Road, Dexter, MI 48130

We operate a distinctive and ethical publishing philosophy in all areas of our business, from our global network of authors to production and worldwide distribution.

Contents

Cover

Half Title

Title

Copyright

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. Education in the US

3. Education Internationally

4. Economics

5. Poverty and Inequality

6. International Development

7. Capitalism

8. Implications for Education

9. Intersections

Gender

Race and Ethnicity

LGBT Issues

Disability

10. Other Major Issues

Health Care

The Environment

War and Violence

11. A Note on Research

12. Conclusions

About the Author

Notes

References

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Guide

Cover

Half Title

Title

Copyright

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Start of Content

About the Author

Notes

References

For Susanne, Carolina, Marcos, Murilo, and Theo with the hope for a more progressive future for all of us

Acknowledgments

In some ways, this book has been a lifetime in the making, as my progressive views developed. I first thought of writing it after reading Paul Krugman’s The Conscience of a Liberal and then going back and reading Barry Goldwater’s The Conscience of a Conservative. I felt then and, even now, that, especially in the US, progressive views are too little heard.

I owe an intellectual debt to too many scholars, researchers, analysts, activists, writers, and journalists to mention. Many of them are cited herein. I have been especially inspired and influenced over many years by many progressive colleagues who work in the area of education and international development and by many political economists and others who have challenged societal structures that lead to inequality, marginalization, and deprivation.

I wish to thank John Hunt Publishing and Zero Books for believing in this book and bringing it to fruition. Most special thanks to my wife and partner, Susanne Clawson, artist and sociologist extraordinaire, for her lifetime of support, reading and commenting on my writings, including several drafts of this book!

Chapter 1

Introduction

Barry Goldwater, Senator from Arizona, wrote The Conscience of a Conservative in 1960. Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning economist, wrote The Conscience of a Liberal in 2007. In 2017, Jeff Flake, current Senator from Arizona, wrote a homage to Goldwater and also called it Conscience of a Conservative. I don’t identify as either a conservative or a liberal and am writing this book to put forth a different view, one I find not well-represented in the media and press, especially in the US. I think of myself as a progressive. For many years in US politics the label progressive was used as a synonym for liberal because liberal had become a dirty word. More recently, with the rise in popularity of Senator Bernie Sanders and others in the Democratic Party, the label progressive has come to mean something more. But more about a progressive view in a bit. Also, I am not famous like Goldwater, Flake, and Krugman. I was trained as an economist and have worked mostly in the field of education and international development, but more about me in a bit as well. Let’s start by looking at conservatives and liberals.

Conservatives

Goldwater’s book is a forerunner to Tea Party conservative Republican politics and could read as their manifesto. In 1960, when the book was written, the right-wing was not nearly as strong in the Republican Party or in the US as it is today, but it was still strong enough to get Goldwater the Republican presidential nomination in 1964. However, he lost to Lyndon Johnson in what most pundits describe as a landslide (Johnson got 60 percent of the popular vote and 90 percent of the Electoral College votes).

For Goldwater, conservatives see politics as the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order.¹ Goldwater emphasizes that the conservatives "first concern will always be: Are we maximizing freedom?² The book then goes on to identify crucial issues, the conservative perspective on them, and the problems with a liberal view. Perhaps most important among them is the principle of limited government.³ Goldwater argues: Throughout history, government has proved to be the chief instrument for thwarting man’s [sic] liberty. In the 1960s, he was referring to the involvement of the federal government in anything that he felt should be left to the states according to his understanding of the US Constitution. This included Social Security and other New Deal programs, high taxation, the promotion of labor unions, the general setting of standards of education, health, and safety,⁴ the regulation of business and agriculture, civil rights legislation, school integration and more. The only place Goldwater saw the need for more federal government was in counteracting the Soviet menace."⁵

For Goldwater, our national government grew from what the framers/founders intended: a servant with sharply limited powers into a master with virtually unlimited power.⁶ He saw the stifling omnipresence of government as evil.⁷ To change this required a new approach to government:

The turn will come when we entrust the conduct of our affairs to men who understand that their first duty as public officials is to divest themselves of the power they have been given. It will come when America, in hundreds of communities throughout the nation, decides to put the man in office who is pledged to enforce the Constitution and restore the Republic. Who will proclaim in a campaign speech: I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is needed before I have first determined if it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents’ interests, I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.⁸

These views didn’t get him elected in 1964, but they play much better today. While Goldwater was somewhat extreme for his time, these views are no longer extreme. They were expressed by many of the Republican candidates for president in 2016, some of these views even by Donald Trump, although he is far from a Goldwater/Tea Party conservative. But more about Trump in a bit. I find these conservative views completely wrongheaded,⁹ as I will discuss throughout the book, but let us turn to a liberal’s critique of conservatives and their alternative vision.

Liberals

Krugman’s book never calls conservatives evil, but his substance comes close. Certainly, for him, they are completely wrong. First, a word about labels. Labels are always problematic, but we need to categorize and classify in order to converse. Nonetheless, it should always be remembered that labels are approximations, never perfect fits, and there is always blurring at the borders. In this case, there are many people who would identify themselves as conservative but reject many of Goldwater’s and Tea Party’s views.¹⁰ Krugman distinguishes between the right-wing conservatives – who he calls movement conservatives – and other more moderate conservative positions. In fact, Krugman spends much of his book looking at the shift of Republicans from a more moderate position in the 1950s and 1960s to a more extreme right-wing one in the 1980s and after.

Krugman provides an excellent tour of twentieth-century US politics and economics from a liberal perspective. The short version of that tour begins briefly with the poverty and vast inequality of the late-nineteenth century’s Gilded Age which eventually leads us into the Great Depression. The New Deal, World War II, and other factors (to be discussed) yielded a more equal and prosperous country. The book focuses on the US after World War II. For Krugman, the period from the end of the war through the 1950s was a sort of Golden Age – Krugman calls it the Great Convergence. The distribution of income had become more equal. Conservative Republicans, with the advent of a moderate like Eisenhower, finally gave up their decades-long effort to reverse the programs of the New Deal. The differences between conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats became less clear, and there was much bipartisanship in Washington.

The unrest of the 1960s started to break that consensus apart. Krugman places particular emphasis on the consequences of the struggle for civil rights and the shift in Southern states from Democrat to Republican. The underlying racism of those opposed to the civil rights movement fueled the election of Ronald Reagan and subsequent Republicans and led, along with other factors, to a slew of bad right-wing Republican policies that brought us today back to the income inequality of the Gilded Age, a shaky economy, and stark battle lines between conservatives and liberals – what Krugman calls the Great Divergence. Of course, this history is quite complex, but Krugman’s book-length treatment provides considerable insight into it. I will talk more about this later.

Krugman spends much of the book attacking the policies put forth by right-wing conservative Republicans. While Krugman doesn’t call it this, theirs is the politics of negativity. Conservatives today, and in 2007 when George Bush (the elder) was president and Krugman wrote his book, seemed to be following Goldwater’s above precepts to repeal laws and cut programs and supports in almost all areas (except defense). They are against taxes, especially for the rich, against civil rights legislation (for racial and ethnic minorities and now gays), against health care legislation (cut Medicaid, privatize Medicare, and, more recently, repeal Obamacare), against Social Security (again, privatize), against meaningful immigration reform, against business regulation, against the right of labor to unionize, against greater or even existing environmental protection, and on and on, rolling back the New Deal and much more.

These conservatives have moved light-years away from the moderate Republicans of the 1950s. Krugman quotes Eisenhower:

Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party