Letter: Liberals in 2020

Letter writer Stew Epstein analyzes the behavior of 2020 Liberals, defining them as progressives, as he sides with the 1960s Liberals. 

Stew Epstein

In his book, “Bias”, former CBS news reporter Bernard Goldberg claims there is a “liberal bias” in the national news media.

He writes, “The bias I’m talking about, by the way, isn’t so much POLITICAL bias of the Democratic-versus-Republican sort … For me that isn’t the real problem. The problem comes in the big social and cultural issues … abortion, gun control, feminism, gay rights, the environment, school prayer.”

Nowhere in his list do any of the economic and financial struggles of the poor, the near-poor, the lower-classes and the middle-classes appear. He is among a number of “Conservatives” who seem to suggest the “Liberals” of the 1960s were primarily concerned with the “bread-and-butter issues” of survival of those groups as well as with expanding the federal government safety net programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps) while the “Progressives” of 2020 seem to be primarily concerned with the social, “identity politics” and “culture wars” issues.

To the extent that this is accurate, put me down as siding more with the “Liberals” of the 1960s than with the “Progressives” of 2020.

Stew Epstein is a retired college professor of sociology, social work and psychology who taught at West Virginia University, Slippery Rock University and Keuka College.