Progressives Lose Their Innocence Every 4 Years

Paul Krugman thinks that "2008 was definitely the year in which the progressive movement lost a lot of its innocence." I beg to differ.

There's always a "progressive movement," even though it's not always called that. And young people are always at the core of the progressive movement. Young people are almost always overly-idealistic about politics—an obvious consequence of their inexperience with politics. Every 4 years, the young people at the core of the progressive movement set out to Change the World, and get heavily invested in the presidential election. Then the dark side of politics rears its ugly head. And the young people at the core of the progressive movement lose their innocence. Repeat as needed.

DISCLAIMER: In no way am I trying to mock the progressive movement. I'm just saying that the majority of the young people at the core of the progressive movement are extremely naïve about politics—a claim Krugman would no doubt agree with (see also here). I also don't think that's really an insult: the idealistic portrayal of politics that kids are taught in school has to meet reality at some point, and a presidential election is usually where the rubber meets the road.