Liberaland 2.0: What We Know.

To all Liberalanders:

A few days ago, we unleashed a new Liberaland. It’s a new design, a new interface, a new way of interacting with the best progressive perspective on the web. It’s version 2.0 — and we hope you’re enjoying it.

But Liberaland v.2.0 is much more than a facelift. It’s a relaunch, from top to bottom. It’s a reflection of the increasingly important role Liberaland plays in the progressive conversation. And it’s a celebration of the voice that we — all of us — have in moving society in the most enlightened direction. Because, despite the cacophony of illogic and stasis from the right, we are indeed moving in that direction — undeniably, inexorably, and yes, permanently.

For version 2.0, we’ve done many things to make your time with us more rewarding. We’ve reorganized all of our articles, podcasts, and videos thematically, so that if you’re scavenging for a hot topic, you can find it. We’ve made our interface much more intuitive, to reflect how progressive minds (yes, yours) work. We’ve highlighted our best contributors, some of whom have been with us for years, and some of whom have just joined us. We’ve made it easy to continue your exploration by including related articles that are actually related to the content you’re reading. We’ve even made it easy to laugh (or cry, jaggedly), with News Behaving Badly. And so much more.

So that’s what we’re doing. But… what’s the point? What do we really believe? And what do we know? Here’s what.

• We know that the progressive agenda is winning. Everywhere. Taking a broad view of contemporary polity, the vector of real progress — writ large and sustained — is clear and unequivocal. There are bumps in the road, setbacks, head-scratching reversions to regressive forms of government. There are stretches of time wherein the conservative, counter-humanist voice seems to prevail, and politics seems unable to withstand its current. There is the age-old struggle between faith and reason — not a binary struggle, but a chronic one. There is the continued degradation of the planet. All of it. But take a step back, and look at where we’re headed. Feel, and observe, the way history is tilting. It’s blue as the sky. You know it, and we know it too.

• We know that conservatives are driven by fear. Their dread of change, particularly the unswerving, accelerated change of an increasingly globalized and technologically seamless world, informs nearly everything they believe. They’re afraid that the world has passed them by. They’re afraid that the white society of their fantasy is turning brown. They’re afraid that they won’t have money when they’re old. They’re afraid that their job isn’t relevant in today’s world, and neither is their skill set. And most of all, they’re afraid that the earth is moving under their proverbial feet, and that they’re powerless to stop it. But they can’t, and they know it.

• We know that fact-based arguments, of the sort progressives cherish, don’t tend to work with the right. And we can’t be frustrated by that. It’s the facts that keep them up at night, that make each morning feel incrementally more bleak, more alienating, more distant from comfort and knowing. 

And it’s why emotional arguments, or mockery, or condescension, don’t work with them either. Emotion is the only refuge of the fact-free, and it’s the only salve to an uneasy mind forged of, and reliant on, illusion. So their side will own emotion, in any dialogue, and you won’t wrest it from them with facts. But you don’t need to.

• While facts alone don’t move the needle, we know that a voice of reason, inflected with emotional intelligence, empathy, humor and a firm grasp of the absurd, will win the day. More precisely, events will win for us, because they will follow our vision, and our agenda. And along the way, our voices, properly tuned and calibrated to these volatile times and the psychology of the resistant mind, will push events to their optimal conclusion.

• And finally, we know that yours are the voices that count the most. That’s why our commenting areas are growing more vital and energetic every day. And that’s also why we’re going to be highlighting more of you as we go forward — not merely as “Editor’s Pick” commenters, but as full-fledged contributors and leading voices in our community.

Enough said. Welcome to the new Liberaland. We’re delighted that you’re here, and hope to delight you with something new, something intriguing, something controversial, and something vital to the mission we’re all on. Thanks for being here with us.

By: rhb

Rob is a NYC-based Internet entrepreneur. He's also a businessman and job creator (wait: doesn't demand create jobs?) who understands the sense, and the eventual predominance, of the progressive agenda.