I suppose I am what most people call today a "liberal". I find that conservatives seem to want only to turn back the clock but they never specify how far.  I suspect that many would turn it back to pre-depression and fear that some secretly wish to turn it back to pre-civil war.

While they never actually say how far they want to turn back the clock, their primary focus seems to be only to hold back the liberals from going any further.

Historically, liberalism or progressivism delivered the United States from an era that ensured a harsh life for the underdog.  That was a good thing.

But it seems that today, the politics of liberalism has nowhere to go.  The major wrongs have been righted for the most part and what is left for the liberal are things like regulations that require fences around home pools, saving obscure species and strengthening rent stabilization laws. 

I'm not against any of those types of regulatory effort but neither am I for them. I just question the relative significance of those efforts compared to the abolition of slavery, the establishment of a democratic republic and the introduction of role of the state in aiding the indigent.

In my view, the United States is thus stymied. On the one hand, conservatives' role seems to be as a naysayer.  On the other hand, liberals' role seems to be to feel sorry for everyone and do something about it.

I think there is a question that conservatives need to ask of liberals and that liberals need to answer somehow.

The question can be stated in many different ways.  One hears it all the time but mostly from non-politicians. It usually takes the form of many complaints with no answers. I prefer to simplify and depoliticize the question as follows:

It has become glaringly apparent that the United States has lost much of her global competitiveness to countries that do not enjoy our level of civility, humanity or conservation.  The ultimate result of such a decline in competitiveness will be a commensurate decline in the quality of life for many Americans in generations to come.

So if progressive or liberal policies and politics will ultimately cause hardship for generations of Americans, what do liberals or progressives propose to do about it?

Or let me put it another way.  If its not okay to pay low wages to workers, why is it okay to permit the sale of goods and services in the United States from countries that allow low wages?

The failure of our statesmen to ask and answer this question is unforgiveable.  After all, it is our statesmen that are singularly empowered to direct the future of our nation.