Progressives Aren’t Always Good Neighbors

By Kleinheider Posted on July 22, 2008 at 7:37 am

Chris Sanders notes how hard it is to place the “progressive” title on a politician in a hyperlocal context:

Neighborhood interests, after all, don’t always translate into progressive causes or candidates. In 2007, the Nashville Neighborhood Defense Fund endorsed Carolyn Baldwin Tucker for Vice Mayor. Every GLBT person who has lived in Nashville since 2003 knows where she stands on our issues. Similarly they said “Beware” of the following candidates: Jerry Maynard (whom they endorsed) and Ronnie Steine. I’m not knocking their process. They exist to protect neighborhoods, not to enact some broad progressive agenda. I’m just saying the neighborhood test is insufficient to establish or revoke one’s progressive credentials. There are plenty of progressives who support business, development, and property rights. And social conservatives can find plenty of reasons to back a neighborhood agenda.

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