Little Did You Know, You Are Being Deconstructed

What we are experiencing not only has a name, but isn't as new as you would think.

 

Transnational Progressivism

 

A Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, John Fonte was writing about it at the turn of the 21st century:

 ...The same scholars who touted multiculturalism

now herald the coming transnational age....

 

The promotion of transnationalism is an attempt to shape this crucial intellectual struggle over globalization. Its adherents imply that one is either in step with globalization, and thus forward-looking, or one is a backward antiglobalist.

Liberal democrats (who are internationalists and support free trade and market economics) must reply that this is a false dichotomy — that the critical argument is not between globalists and antiglobalists, but instead over the form global engagement should take in the coming decades: will it be transnationalist or internationalist?

* * *

The key concepts of transnational progressivism could be described as follows (illustrative links being added by Yours Truly):

 

 The ascribed group over the individual citizen.

The key political unit is not the individual citizen, who forms voluntary associations and works with fellow citizens regardless of race, sex, or national origin, but the ascriptive group (racial, ethnic, or gender) into which one is born.

A dichotomy of groups: Oppressor vs. victim groups, with immigrant groups designated as victims. Transnational ideologists have incorporated the essentially Hegelian Marxist "privileged vs. marginalized" dichotomy.

 

 Group proportionalism as the goal of "fairness."

Transnational progressivism assumes that "victim" groups should be represented in all professions roughly proportionate to their percentage of the population. If not, there is a problem of "underrepresentation."

 

 The values of all dominant institutions to be changed to reflect the perspectives of the victim groups.

Transnational progressives insist that it is not enough to have proportional representation of minorities in major institutions if these institutions continue to reflect the worldview of the "dominant" culture. Instead, the distinct worldviews of ethnic, gender, and linguistic minorities must be represented within these institutions.

 

 The "demographic imperative."

The demographic imperative tells us that major demographic changes are occurring in the U. S. as millions of new immigrants from non-Western cultures enter American life. The traditional paradigm based on the assimilation of immigrants into an existing American civic culture is obsolete and must be changed to a framework that promotes "diversity," defined as group proportionalism.

 

 The redefinition of democracy and "democratic ideals."

Transnational progressives have been altering the definition of "democracy" from that of a system of majority rule among equal citizens to one of power sharing among ethnic groups composed of both citizens and non-citizens. James Banks, one of American education's leading textbook writers, noted in 1994 that "to create an authentic democratic Unum with moral authority and perceived legitimacy, the pluribus (diverse peoples) must negotiate and share power." Hence, American democracy is not authentic; real democracy will come when the different "peoples" that live within America "share power" as groups.

 

 DECONSTRUCTION of national narratives and national symbols of democratic nation-states in the West.

 In October 2000, a UK government report denounced the concept of "Britishness" and declared that British history needed to be "revised, rethought, or jettisoned."

In the U.S., the proposed "National History Standards," recommended altering the traditional historical narrative. Instead of emphasizing the story of European settlers, American civilization would be redefined as a multicultural "convergence" of three civilizations—Amerindian, West African, and European.

 In Israel, a "post-Zionist" intelligentsia has proposed that Israel consider itself multicultural and deconstruct its identity as a Jewish state. Even Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres sounded the post-Zionist trumpet in his 1993 book , in which he deemphasized "sovereignty" and called for regional "elected central bodies," a type of Middle Eastern EU.

 

 Promotion of the concept of postnational citizenship.

 In an important academic paper, Rutgers Law Professor Linda Bosniak asks hopefully "Can advocates of postnational citizenship ultimately succeed in decoupling the concept of citizenship from the nation-state in prevailing political thought?"

 

 The idea of transnationalism as a major conceptual tool.

Transnationalism is the next stage of multicultural ideology. Like multiculturalism, transnationalism is a concept that provides elites with both an empirical tool (a plausible analysis of what is) and an ideological framework (a vision of what should be). Transnational advocates argue that globalization requires some form of "global governance" because they believe that the nation-state and the idea of national citizenship are ill suited to deal with the global problems of the future.

 

It all sounds painfully familiar, does it not?

HERE is the American Diplomacy article from which these excerpts were taken and HERE is the entirety [pdf] as it appeared in Orbis in the Summer Issue, 2002.

Once we have mastered what was being discussed a decade ago, we should probably move on to Fonte's 2011 book, Sovereignty or Submission. You can pick up a used copy at Amazon for less than $2 (plus shipping).

 

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

This is Marxism with a modern face, nothing more. Marx's idea was that one special group -- the proletariat -- would be the engine that drove a worldwide Socialist (or, as he called it, Communist) revolution. This idea failed spectacularly, mainly because, around the world, nationalist loyalties trumped proletarian loyalties, and a united, worldwide proletariat never emerged. But Marxists never give up; they just repackage what failed before and try to sell it under a new name. Transnational Progressivism is the latest repackaging. Instead of the proletariat, it will be racial, ethnic, and gender groups that will drive the worldwide Socialist (or, as it's now called, Progressivist) revolution. The only encouraging thing about this latest development is that we're getting closer to the time when the Marxists run out of groups to drive the revolution. When that happens, maybe they'll give up on the whole bloody idea. But I wouldn't bet on it.