Progressives discovering the downside of identity politics

Icons of Progressive thought and leadership are finding themselves tossed under the bus because of "Progressive" identity ideology.

Under the Progressives, Identity is a noun and it is immutable. Redemption is not attainable.

Under Progressive thought, there are victims (who are by definition "pure") and perpetrators (who are by definition "entirely evil").

More traditional thought is that every person has the capacity to do evil or to do "good". In general, we are very strongly drawn to maximize our short-term gain which often results in others being bruised. The previous sentence is a dry, non-theological definition of Original Sin.

Because of the strong attraction, it is inevitable that we fall into sin. Every one of us. It is only by the grace of God, conscious decision and intent to do good that we ever find ourselves not-in-the-ditch.

In traditional thought, the difference between a "good man" and a "bad man" is the speed with which the good man pulls himself out of the ditch and the bad man gives evidence of conscious decision and intent to drive himself into the ditch.

Identity is a verb and will change through time. We are born inherently selfish and are trained to say "No" to short-term gains that wrongfully bruise our fellow man. That is, our Identity changes.

There are very few sins that are beyond redemption in the traditional culture. The sin of Judas of Iscariot (and Benedict Arnold and Hillary Clinton) in selling out one's comrades for mammon being one of them.

The miracle of civilization is not that humanity was perfected but that such grand edifices were constructed of common clay that passed through fire.