Damek.

You should read this, re-read it, and then read it again.

1. 9/11 didn’t change everything.
2. Morality is not sex.
3. America can’t rule the world. (but it can lead)
4. Christianity is liberal. (the religious right are Pharisees)
5. Globalization is liberal.

If Indonesians can make cheaper sneakers because their workers are happy with wages that Americans would refuse, then that’s just capitalism and we have to live with it. But if Indonesian sneakers are cheaper because their factories are allowed to pollute, their workers can’t organize, and their courts value workers’ lives cheaply — that’s different.

6. Capitalism is liberal.

Today, capitalism concentrates wealth in the hands of the few and distances both corporations and consumers from the destructive consequences of their decisions. But is that capitalism, or is it just right-wing capitalism? Could there be a left-wing capitalism that harnesses the efficiency of market forces to the values of liberal society?

7. Free citizens must have courage.
8. We must protect the Commons.
9. America is worth paying for.
10. Democracy means trusting the people.

The idea of the commons and our “common good” really underlies almost all of these items, and truly is something the left simply must, as he says, “resuscitate.” Oh, and I liked his line about the Pope being a “flaming liberal” (when he’s not talking about sex).