Hear Me Out: Purity Is Poisoning the Progressive Movement

Slate Debates

Slate Podcasts

Society & Culture, News

4.6 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2024

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: the purity test. Purity, in political science, doesn’t have anything to do with morality. It has to do with whether your policy aligns with your principles. From “Bernie Bros” to the uncommitted vote against Biden, we’ve seen progressives protect ideological purity… and punish stances that don’t align. An all-or-nothing stance on issues like universal healthcare and student loan forgiveness might sound appealing to voters. But does it doom progress, practically, if an increment isn’t good enough? Shaniqua McClendon, VP of Politics for Crooked Media, joins us to argue against progressive purity politics. If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: [email protected] Podcast production by Maura Currie. You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus! Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is hear me out. I'm Celeste Hedley. Is incremental change better than no change?
0:06.4	When you ask that question on paper at least, the answer seems obvious.
0:10.3	Something is generally better than nothing, but we live in a country of single-issue
0:15.6	voters and an electorate that's generally more excited by principles than execution.
0:21.2	Think of the Bernie Bros of 2016. For a lot of progressives, political purity matters,
0:27.0	and it is all or nothing. So, is purity practical? Or do we shoot ourselves in the foot by writing off anyone we sort of disagree with?
0:35.8	I see politics as the way to advance on the issues that I care about, and if I can't get it all right then,
0:42.3	I am going to take what I can get.
0:44.6	Sheniqua McClendon of Crooked Media joins Hear Me Out in just a moment.
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1:24.0	Welcome back to Hear Me Out. I'm Celeste Hedley.
1:29.0	For a presidential election year, a good chunk of the country is remarkably unconcerned when it comes to
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