Dear Editor:
In his book, “BIAS”, former CBS news reporter Bernard Goldberg claims that there is a “liberal” bias in the national news media. He writes “The bias I’m talking about, by the way, isn’t so much political bias of the Democratic-versus-Republican sort…For me that isn’t the real problem. The problem comes in the big social and cultural issues…abortion, gun control, feminism gay rights, the environment, school prayer.” To this list, I would add “the plight of illegal immigrants.”
You will notice that nowhere in his list do any of the economic and financial struggles of the
poor, the near-poor, the lower classes, and the middle classes appear. He is among a number of “Conservatives” who seem to suggest that the “liberals” of the 1960s were primarily concerned with the “bread-and-butter issues” of the survival of these groups as well as with expanding the federal government safety-net programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps) , while the “progressives” of 2020 seem to be primarily concerned with the social, “identity-politics” and “culture-wars” issues.
To the extent that this is accurate, you can put me down as siding more with the “liberals” of the 1960s than with the “progressives” of 2020.
Because I believe that we should all consider ourselves to be American citizens first before we see ourselves as anything else, and because while I do care a lot about all of those other issues, it is most important to me that everyone have their basic survival needs met and to be able to pay their bills.
Stewart B Epstein
