The Hollywood Liberal

HL is happy to welcome a new blogger to the site, he is Michael O’Mccarthy. Michael is an internationally published poet, writer of prose, journalist and blogger. In the past Mr. McCarthy has written for progressive websites like Counterpunch, Buzzflash, and American Chronicle. Michael is also the author of the book Rebels In Hell. Here is Michaels first post on the HL

Up The Rebels! — A blog in keeping with the legacy of The Declaration of
Independence and “the Right of the People to alter or abolish…”

Michael O’McCarthy
Email: Opolitique@aol.com

I want to thank HL for inviting me to be a feature Blogger from
my old stomping grounds, Los Angeles and that great bastion of progressive
Liberalism, Hollywood. Perhaps no other community has sponsored the cause of
progress political politics more than Los Angeles. There the late and wonderful
Dorothy Healey, (heir to Rosa Luxemburg and Emma Goldman, pioneers of the
humanization of democratic socialism), turned old style, doctrinaire Lefty
Politics into a New American Movement and then joined with the late and wonderful
Michael Harrington in the formation of Democratic Socialists of America. (I
give a nod to the work of Warren Beatty for providing the US with his first
alternative view of the development of modern socialism with his iconic film,
REDS.)

So lets get at it and define why I am, as a democratic socialist, aligning
myself with the “liberals” who have so often found opportunism much more
comfortable than progress. Of my generation, the two who stand out most are
Lyndon (“light at the end of the tunnel” of the war against South East Asia)
Johnson and Hubert “Chicago police riot of 1968” Humphrey — or today, the “
liberalism of Joe Lieberman.

So to define my understanding of “liberal”:

Liberal — The American Heritage Dictionary:

Adjective
a. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian
attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.

b. Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and
tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.

c. Of, relating to, or characteristic of liberalism.

The synonym of liberal as defined by Heritage is Progressive —

1- Moving forward; advancing.
2- Proceeding in steps; continuing steadily by increments: progressive
change. Promoting or favoring progress toward better conditions or new policies,
ideas, or methods.

For an excellent American historical, though outdated, example see:
Progressive Platform of 1924

For today See:The Political Perspective of the Democratic Socialists of America

I invite you to read and digest the information at those sites and ask
yourself: does this not better reflect your values and aspirations for the world
than the current politics of the Democratic Party and the Corporate State that
owns and controls it?

I believe that it is time for the truly Liberal community to move forward
with Left Progressives and democratic socialists to advance and redefine the US
political agenda; to either abolish or alter the current form of oppressive
government. To that end I am happy to be here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 11:22 am and is filed under Michael O'McCarthy's Blog, Main Blog (All Posts). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.