Excerpts from Being Right Is Not Enough: What Progressives Must Learn From Conservative
Success, by Paul Waldman, Wiley, 2006
Chapter 1 – Returning Fire
p. 4 Ask an ordinary person what conservatives stand for, and he’ll be able to come up with a few
powerful, easily understood ideas: low taxes, small government, strong defense, and traditional values.
These are the Four Pillars of Conservatism. p. 5 Conservatives have also understood that it isn’t enough
to describe in simple terms each of the dozens of issue positions that comprise an ideology. A series of
simple arguments unconnected to one another doesn’t add up to anything. What conservatives have
created is a thematically unified master narrative…. p. 18 Progressives do not lack for policy experts or
committed activists. What they need is an infrastructure whose purpose is not fighting conservatives on
this or that issue but battling conservatism itself.
p. 27 Democrats often complain that Republicans are more willing to play dirty than they are, and this is
certainly true…. But it isn’t because Democrats have an excess of ethics; it’s because all too often they
don’t have the stomach for the fight.
Chapter 2 – Beyond Red and Blue
p. 34 There will always be some Republican elected officials in the Democratic strongholds and vice
versa. When it comes to the presidency, though, Democrats need to stop worrying about the South and
just let it go. When they do so, they’ll find new opportunities opening up to build and expand a majority in
the rest of the country. p. 35 The South has become so socially conservative that no Democratic
presidential candidate who can gain the support of Democrats in the rest of the country has much of a
chance to win there in a close election, no matter how thick his drawl.
Chapter 3 – A Progressive Country
p. 60 [A]mong the cornerstones of a rebuilt progressive identity is the idea that progressives stand on the
side of working people and advocate opportunity for all. Nowhere is the contrast with conservatives
clearer – and thus, nowhere is the progressive advantage greater – than in the complex of issues we can
call the opportunity matrix. These issues encompass not only job prospects but all the factors that affect
people’s fortunes in life and determine our collective prosperity: the schools in our communities, the
availability of affordable health care, the relationship of employers and employees, the quality of our air
and water, and the choices our government makes with our tax dollars, to name a few.
p. 68 Social conservatives may not like it, but in recent years the vast majority of Americans have thrown
off the Puritan legacy in which external authorities and arbitrary traditions determine the choices we make
in our own families. [Poll data cited on goals of women’s liberation movement, pre-marital sex, equality for
gays and lesbians, abortion, gun control, all showing popularity of progressive opinion]
p. 83 The problem Democrats have on national security isn’t that Americans have rejected the solutions
they have offered, it’s that Americans approach national security issues already believing that Democrats
are weak – not just on national security issues but in general.
Chapter 4 – Knowing Who You Are
p. 86 The belief that the key to winning electoral majorities lies in subtle tweaking of party platforms – in
either a leftward or a rightward direction – is the kind of naïve thinking in which conservatives would never
indulge. It is no accident that Republican losses are not greeted with debates on whether their party
should “move to the center” or “be true to its beliefs,” because they understand that the laundry list of
issue items that make up their party platform has only a marginal impact on whether they win or lose.
p. 88 [M]ost Americans have no idea what the specific issue agendas of the two parties are…. As a
consequence, they make decisions based on a combination of actual information and inferred
information. The latter is derived from what scholars call heuristics, information shortcuts that allow us to
make educated guesses about where candidates stand and what they might do. The most useful heuristic
is party affiliation…. p. 89 The question is not whether citizens will make character assessments – they
will – but whether the character assessments they make are well-grounded and relevant.
Book summary courtesy of the Progressive Women’s Alliance of West Michigan.
p. 91 The issues progressives choose to push in a high-profile way should be chosen not just because
they’re right, but for what they say about progressivism. In other words, issues should be thought of as a
way of arguing through ethos [sentiment, moral nature, guiding belief].
p. 94 In approaching each issue, they [progressives] need to ask three simple questions: What is the
most persuasive interest justification we can make? What is the most persuasive value justification? And
what core principle does our position on this issue express?
p. 99 Progressives don’t need to talk about values, they need to talk about their values. When they do,
they’ll find fertile ground in public opinion…. Research has shown that when politicians frame their
appeals in terms of values, voters are more likely to think about the issue involved in the same terms. As
a consequence, they make judgments that are less likely to be overcome by consideration of other
issues. In other words, while an appeal to a voter’s interest is often weighed against other issues that
might offset it – his health care plan sounds good, but I’m not too hot on the tax plan – a values appeal is
more likely to be seen as fundamental and to trump other interest-based appeals.
Chapter 5 – Say It Like You Mean It
p. 110 The worldview that progressives share has at its heart a vision of community, equality, tolerance,
mutual responsibility, individual freedom, systems that operate fairly, and a government that serves the
many and not just the few. How can we put all these ideas together into a single statement of belief? The
answer is that progressives believe we’re all in it together. What does it mean to say we’re all in it
together? It means every individual’s freedom and opportunity must be valued. It means we have
responsibilities to one another. It means we believe government’s purpose is to protect its citizens and
improve their lives. It means that we look for solutions that work for all of us.
p. 111 Apart from summing up the progressive vision, this establishes a contrast with conservatives, who
believe we’re all on our own and we’re all out for ourselves. The idea that we’re all in it together unites the
worldviews of the more affluent, highly educated progressives and the blue-collar workers who may be
more conservative on some social issues. It also tells a story about who progressives are and why they
advocate the things they do. From there, we can construct a hierarchy of progressive identity, traveling
through abstract principles down to specific policy goals. [see graphic on page 4 of Book Notes]
p. 113-133 With this hierarchy in mind, we can begin to formulate the contrasts that define both
progressives and conservatives.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Progressives are working people. Conservatives are the elite.
Progressives believe the government should work for all of us. Conservatives believe the government
is there to serve special interests.
Progressives want opportunity for all. Conservatives want only those who are members of the club to
have it.
Progressives want to create security. Conservatives want to undermine security.
Progressives believe in respecting other people’s beliefs and choices in life. Conservatives want to
force you to live according to their beliefs.
Progressives believe in progress. Conservatives are stuck in the past.
Progressives want everyone to pay their fair share of taxes. Conservatives want to tax work but not
wealth.
Progressives think businesses should be good citizens – treating their employees and their
communities with respect. Conservatives think corporate profits are more important than the interests
of people, communities, and the country.
Progressives think America is strongest when we act with our friends and allies. Conservatives are
too childish to realize that alliances make us stronger.
Progressives believe in a democracy in which every American has an equal voice and an equal vote.
Conservatives want to rig the game in their favor.
Book summary courtesy of the Progressive Women’s Alliance of West Michigan.
•
•
•
Progressives believe everyone – including corporations – has to take responsibility for their actions.
Conservatives believe in giving the powerful a free pass to harm people.
Progressives believe the government should pay its bills. Conservatives believe the government
should just borrow money and leave it to future generations to pay the bill.
Progressives are problem solvers. Conservatives are ideologues.
Chapter 6 – Telling the Story
p. 142 Successful politicians don’t just need good stories, they need to be good storytellers. p. 146 Too
often, progressives have told stories that feature ordinary people only as victims and never as heroes….
There’s nothing wrong with sad stories, but you have to show people the happy ending in order to
convince them that your ideology is a hopeful one that offers them a path toward a future they’d like to be
a part of.
p. 151 Progressives also need to get over their squeamishness about telling stories that have the
potential to make people angry or even afraid. Like anything else, negativity in politics can be used for ill
or good. It can be honest or dishonest, fair or unfair, relevant or irrelevant. There are things voters should
be angry about and things they should be afraid of. Scholarly research has consistently found that we
tend to pay more attention to negative information than to positive information….
Chapter 7 – Manipulating the Media for Fun and Profit
p. 169 In each of the major communication media, the right-wing noise machine has a significant and
powerful presence. p. 175 It is enough to say here, however, that the endless braying about the alleged
sins of the allegedly liberal press is a conservative strategy both to keep the media under pressure
(“working the ref,” as it is known) and to pose as plucky underdogs fighting against a powerful, hostile
elite.
p. 181 Progressives who want to counter the right-wing media are confronted with the problem of
asymmetric warfare…. The answer for progressives is to discredit right-wing media with a story that
explains who they are and what they are doing…. Progressives need to force conservatives who consider
themselves “mainstream” to either defend or repudiate the nutballs in their midst.
Chapter 8 – Thinking Big
p. 196 Thinking big [universal health coverage, comprehensive tax reform] defines you in the eyes of the
electorate – not only for the content of what you’re proposing, but for the very fact that you have
ambitious ideas and firmly held beliefs.
Chapter 9 – Time to Get Tough
p. 218 The charge of weakness is not about military service, nor is it about defense policy. It is about
character. Every attack from your opponent represents a test of strength. If you let yourself be attacked
without response, or you decry his negativism or proclaim yourself “insulted,” then you look weak. If you
stand up and hit back twice as hard, you look strong. p. 219 I’ve mentioned before how much fun George
W. Bush had in 2004 poking fun at Massachusetts. What did Kerry say in response? Not a thing. But
imagine if he had said in front of the cameras, “Mr. President, I’ve had just about enough of you insulting
my home state and the fine Americans who live there. Why don’t you try saying it to my face? Then we’ll
see how funny you think it is when I knock you on your phony Texas ass.” Would Kerry have gotten some
criticism? Sure, but he would not have lost a single vote over it, and the ensuing controversy would have
made him look tough and would have led to a discussion of the fact that Bush didn’t seem to consider
himself the president of all Americans.
Chapter 10 – The Progressive Moment
p. 234 Of all the things progressives can learn from conservatives, none may be more important than
changing the way they look at the political world in order to create a single entity known as the
progressive movement. For too long the left has been a collection of identity-based and single-issue
groups, each of which held its focus so narrowly that acting together was difficult if not impossible.
Progressives need to stop thinking of themselves as environmentalists or pro-choicers or civil rights
advocates and start thinking of themselves as members of the Progressive Movement.
Book summary courtesy of the Progressive Women’s Alliance of West Michigan.
Additional Material
p. 111 From the single statement of belief, a hierarchy of progressive identity, traveling through abstract
principles down to specific policy goals.
We’re All In It Together
Government
That Works for
Everyone
• Fair taxes
• Corporate
accountability
• Consumer
protection
• Workplace
protection
• Fair elections
• Honest
government
• Environmental
protection
Opportunity
Security
Individual
Freedom
• Support for
education
• Student
loans
• Small
business
loans
• Living wage
• Support for
unions
• Social
Security
• Universal
health care
• Family leave
• International
cooperation
• Real
homeland
security
• Equal rights
for all
• Privacy
• Freedom of
expression
• Safe and
legal abortion
• Access to
contraception
• Civil rights
Progress
• Energy
independence
• Community
Internet
• Investment in
medical
research
• Investment in
infrastructure
p. 112 While at first glance it may look complex, this pyramid is actually quite simple: a single summation
of progressivism that leads to five fundamental principles, under which we can place almost any issue. In
fact, it is more coherent than the Four Pillars of Conservatism. There is no particular reason why
traditional values and small government should go together – indeed, they are often at odds. But the idea
that we’re all in it together is something to which the progressive position on nearly any issue can
ultimately be traced.
Book summary courtesy of the Progressive Women’s Alliance of West Michigan.