I’m Cenk Uygur and I’m a progressive.
Over the last few years people HAVE said a lot of bad things about Progressives.
In articles.
In videos where they talk to you like you’re a baby and show you cartoons.
They have weird opinions if you ask me, like we want to control your lives.
I have enough problems controlling my own life.
I don’t need to worry about yours.
If you want to know what progressives believe, why don’t you ask them?
Oh right, I'm right here!
I want to state clearly what PROGRESSIVES are, and what PROGRESSIVE VALUES are.
The term comes from the Progressive Era from the late 1800s to the 1920s.
Progressives back then fought corporate greed and political corruption.
Love it!
They were trust-busters.
They set up labor unions and workplace standards.
Health and safety codes.
They literally saved lives.
And they believed in progressive values, which if you think about it, have been around for
centuries, and are at the heart of every major breakthrough in the history of society.
I think Progressive values boil down to two main things: one I call expanding The Circle
of Liberty.
The second is equality of opportunity.
Now what's expanding the circle of Liberty?
OK, let’s go way back.
800 years ago in England, the king had all the power.
But then, the Magna Carta created a constitutional monarchy which gave some power to people who
weren’t the king.
Circle of liberty gets a little bigger.
That’s progressive.
The American Revolution: Founding fathers gained independence, freedom, Bill of rights.
Circle gets bigger.
Huge Progressives.
Now, at the same time they owned slaves, which was a terrible disgrace.
But they said we should try to keep perfecting the union.
And we did.
The American Civil War ended slavery with the 13th amendment.
Sorry Kanye, but that’s a good thing.
Circle gets bigger.
Everybody wins.
Now, Flash forward.
Women’s suffrage.
Gay rights.
It's all progressive.
More people in the circle of liberty.
We should all be in favor of that.
And the fight goes on every day, even now -- especially now -- to make sure everyone
gets in that circle.
That’s what we do at The Young Turks.
We also believe in EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY.
The other side LOVES to say we’re about equality of outcome.
Like we're handing out Bentleys over here.
We're not doing that, right?
Because...
I don't have one.
We just want everyone to get the same shot as someone who was born into a position of
privilege, because you’re a human being.
And you deserve that opportunity.
If you don’t believe in opportunity, you don’t really believe in America.
What does that look like in action?
Well how about access to education.
This is extremely important to me.
My father was a poor farmer in Southeastern Turkey, but they had a system where if you
scored well on a test, you got a free college education.
He got that score, went to school, and it allowed him to come to America so we could
pursue the American dream.
If they can pull off free college in Turkey, we should be able to do it here in America.
If my dad didn’t have that opportunity I’d still be an olive farmer.
Wait a minute, I know what some of you are thinking.
Stop it.
You should also be safe.
The idea of a fire department is progressive, and a functional Police Department that makes
sure it looks out for all our SAFETY no matter who you are or what you look like.
That’s progressive.
You don’t have opportunity if you’re dead.
Affordable health care.
Every developed country in the world…
besides us… believes in this.
If you’re dead, once again: No opportunity.
Everyone should have a fair chance at life.
That’s at the heart of what it means to be a progressive.
If EVERY OTHER developed nation can do it.
Can we do it?
OF COURSE!
From now 'til the end of the year as part of our membership drive, we’re making a
video a week about how progressive values apply to issues like wages, immigration, criminal
justice.
Send all these videos to your conservative friends and family members, and who knows?
Maybe it’ll rub off on them.
Or at the very least they’ll know what we mean when we say we’re progressive.
And become a member at TYT.com/join, as we fight for progressive values like those before
us.
From Lincoln, To Susan B. Anthony.
Clara Barton.
Martin Luther King.
Harvey Milk.
To some degree TYT.
And you.
Go to TYT.com/join and become a member.
And you’ll always have a home at TYT, the home
of progressives.