Washington • Progressives have some intellectual and moral work to do. What are cast as political challenges to liberals and the left are also philosophical problems. Resolving them is essential to sorting out the tensions among the movement’s goals and establishing its priorities.
It comes down to this: Whom do progressives think they're fighting for?
It's a question joined most pointedly in arguments over "identity politics." The debate itself is flawed because it's not clear what it means to be "for" or "against" identity politics. All politics is about identity in some way, since all of us think of ourselves as, well, something.