1 00:00:02,100 --> 00:00:04,100 Do you believe in free speech? 2 00:00:04,110 --> 00:00:09,260 Do you believe that people should be judged by their character, not their skin color? 3 00:00:09,260 --> 00:00:11,840 Do you believe in freedom of religion? 4 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:16,020 If you believe these things, you’re probably not a progressive. 5 00:00:16,020 --> 00:00:19,360 You might think you’re a progressive. I used to think I was. 6 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:24,840 My show, “The Rubin Report” was originally part of the progressive “The Young Turks” network. 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,160 Progressives struck me as liberals but louder. 8 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:32,239 Progressives were the nice guys; they looked out for the little guy; they cared about women 9 00:00:32,239 --> 00:00:35,399 and minorities; they embraced change. 10 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:38,760 In short, who wouldn’t want to be a progressive? 11 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:43,700 But over the last couple years, the meaning of the word “progressive” has changed. 12 00:00:43,700 --> 00:00:47,840 Progressives used to say, “I may disagree with what you say, but I will fight to the 13 00:00:47,850 --> 00:00:50,190 death for your right to say it.” 14 00:00:50,190 --> 00:00:51,719 Not anymore. 15 00:00:51,719 --> 00:00:56,039 Banning speakers whose opinions you don’t agree with from college campuses – 16 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:57,860 that’s not progressive. 17 00:00:57,860 --> 00:01:03,840 Prohibiting any words not approved of as “politically correct” that’s not progressive. 18 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:09,220 Putting “Trigger Warnings” on books, movies, music, anything that might offend people – 19 00:01:09,220 --> 00:01:11,260 that’s not progressive either. 20 00:01:11,260 --> 00:01:16,480 All of this has led me to be believe that much of the Left is no longer progressive, 21 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:18,120 but regressive. 22 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,100 This is one of the reasons I’ve spent so much time on my show 23 00:01:21,100 --> 00:01:23,840 talking about The Regressive Left. 24 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:29,740 This regressive ideology doesn’t judge people as individuals, but as a collective. 25 00:01:29,740 --> 00:01:34,820 If you’re black, or female, or Muslim, or Hispanic or a member of any other minority group, 26 00:01:34,820 --> 00:01:39,960 you’re judged differently than the most evil of all things – a white, Christian male. 27 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:43,740 The Regressive Left ranks minority groups in a pecking order to compete 28 00:01:43,740 --> 00:01:45,920 in a kind of Oppression Olympics. 29 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,260 Gold medal goes to the most offended. 30 00:01:48,270 --> 00:01:53,159 Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream that his children would be judged by their character 31 00:01:53,159 --> 00:02:00,039 and not their skin color was a liberal idea, but these days, it’s not a progressive ideal. 32 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,400 And what about religious freedom - the idea that no one else can tell you 33 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:06,040 what you have to believe? 34 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,620 Surely progressives still support that basic right. 35 00:02:09,620 --> 00:02:11,280 Well, not so much. 36 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,740 I’m a married gay man, so you might think that I appreciate the government forcing a 37 00:02:15,750 --> 00:02:20,709 Christian baker or photographer or florist to act against their religion in order to 38 00:02:20,709 --> 00:02:23,360 cater, photograph or decorate my wedding. 39 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:24,580 But you’d be wrong. 40 00:02:24,580 --> 00:02:28,000 A government that can force Christians to violate their conscience 41 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,320 can force me to violate mine. 42 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:35,200 If a baker won’t bake you a cake, find another baker, don’t demand the state 43 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,680 tell him what to do with his private business. 44 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:39,900 I’m pro-choice. 45 00:02:39,900 --> 00:02:44,620 But a government that can force a group of Catholic nuns - literally called 46 00:02:44,620 --> 00:02:50,919 the Little Sisters of the Poor – to violate their faith and pay for abortion-inducing birth control 47 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:53,759 can force anyone to do anything. 48 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:57,559 That’s not progressive; that’s regressive! 49 00:02:57,559 --> 00:03:03,899 Today's progressivism has become a faux-moral movement hurling charges of racism, bigotry, 50 00:03:03,900 --> 00:03:09,440 xenophobia, homophobia, Islamophobia and a slew of other meaningless buzzwords 51 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:11,860 at anyone they disagree with. 52 00:03:11,870 --> 00:03:17,960 The battle of ideas has been replaced by a battle of feelings, and outrage has replaced honesty. 53 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:23,080 Diversity reigns supreme, as long as it’s not that pesky diversity of thought. 54 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:29,260 This isn’t the recipe for a free society, it’s a recipe for authoritarianism. 55 00:03:29,269 --> 00:03:32,940 For these reasons, I can no longer call myself a progressive. 56 00:03:32,940 --> 00:03:35,380 I don’t really call myself a Democrat either. 57 00:03:35,380 --> 00:03:40,260 I’m a classical liberal, a free thinker, and as much as I don’t like to admit it, 58 00:03:40,269 --> 00:03:45,280 defending my liberal values has suddenly become a conservative position. 59 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:50,220 So, if you think people should be able to say what they think without being punished for it; 60 00:03:50,220 --> 00:03:54,780 that people should be judged by their behavior, not their skin color; and that people 61 00:03:54,790 --> 00:03:59,520 should be able to live the way that they want to live, without government interference, 62 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:03,700 then there’s not much left on the left for you. 63 00:04:03,700 --> 00:04:08,060 I’ll keep trying to explain that to progressives until I’m totally left out. 64 00:04:08,060 --> 00:04:12,020 I’m Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report for Prager University.