2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: There is no such thing as a Third Way Progressive. [View all]wyldwolf
(43,867 posts)The term "Third Way" has been used to explain a variety of political courses and ideologies in the last few centuries. These ideas were implemented by progressives in the early 20th century. The term "Third Way" was picked up again in the 1950s by German ordoliberal economists such as Wilhelm Röpke, resulting in the development of the concept of the social market economy. Most significantly, Harold Macmillan, British Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963, based his philosophy of government on what he entitled in a book, The Middle Way (1938).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Way#Origins
In American politics, Bobby Kennedy has been called the first New Democrat by many:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/steel-night.html
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8050-7792-6
This has been discussed many times on DU. For example, welfare reform in the 1990s, a hallmark of Third Way policy, took lots of pointers from both JFK and RFK plans. Bill Clinton baked a workforce development component into the '96 bill ahead of the full-blown Workforce development bill in '98. Work force development is an American economic development approach that attempts to enhance a region's economic stability and prosperity by focusing on people rather than businesses. It is essentially a human resources strategy.
This was a continuation of a JFK idea:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Responsibility_and_Work_Opportunity_Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workforce_Investment_Act_of_1998
Similarly, Bobby Kennedy argued that increased government cooperation with private enterprise would reduce housing and employment woes in the United States. THIS line of thought was paramount to DLC thought in the 90s.
http://www.4president.org/brochures/rfk1968brochure.htm
He sought to remedy the problems of poverty through legislation to encourage private industry to locate in poverty-stricken areas, thus creating jobs for the unemployed, and stressed the importance of work over welfare.
http://rfkcenter.org/robert-f-kennedy