What ideals can unite a broad progressive coalition?
A society that respects the dignity of all humans is a society that is founded on mutual respect.
What are the ideals of a progressive coalition? I'm happy to support a broad range of ideas from social reformers and social democrats and socialists, so I would answer in a broadly progressive-radical way:
we aim to build things up more than we aim to tear things down
we believe that existing institutions can be reformed.
we prefer lawful change over violent change
we are aware that a system can get stuck at a "local optima" that is far from the "global optima", so occasionally there is a need for a dramatic break with the past, but we prefer evolutionary change, rather than revolutionary change, in those cases where evolutionary change is enough to reach the global optima
we believe every one has a right to be respected, which as a practical matter we define as having certain fundamental human rights respected
we are not dogmatic on issues of centralization versus decentralization, but rather, we feel that pragmatism is the best attitude to bring to the question. We should prefer centralization where it is efficient, and we should prefer decentralization where it is efficient.
the use of markets, and the use of prices as an information signal, is a form of decentralization, sometimes useful and sometimes not. We are not dogmatic about the benefits or abuses of markets, but rather, we seek to use markets where they are useful, and then we are also willing to override market forces where those market forces seem likely to damage the general good
we believe the public will is the ultimate source of the legitimacy of the system. we believe the public will is best expressed through free and fair elections. we are aware that most existing systems of voting have at least some known problems, and we are open minded about what improvements might better bring the political system into alignment with the public will
We are aware that the current majority, if given too much power, can establish a "tyranny of the majority." We are aware that democratic majorities have sometimes been abusive and unjust to minorities. Therefore we accept that a system of checks and balances must operate to maintain the health of the overall system. We acknowledge that in the past our system of checks and balances was insufficient to protect minorities from grave injustices, therefore we seek to build a more robust system of such checks and balances.
our respect for every person, and ourselves, motivates us to use the great power of the state, and the economy, to grant security to every person, knowing that any of us, at any moment, might have our lives damaged by a freak accident, or the turn of some terrible circumstance
our respect for every person, and ourselves, motivates us to oppose great concentrations of power, whether that concentration of power is in the government or in the private sector. In opposition to such great concentrations of power, we seek to establish a system of checks and balances that ensure no one person or group has the power to undermine the rights of others, nor can we allow any concentration of power to threaten the legal system that has grown out of the operation of a democratic process. We support the establishment of additional structures and institutions to further enable the kind of robust checks and balances that are necessary to limit distortions of that democratic process. we are open minded about additional experiments in new forms of democracy, if such experiments seem likely to better protect us from these dangers