What I find beautiful about Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s relationship with Fidel Castro is that beneath the Cold War labels, they could recognize something genuinely Progressive in one another: a belief that ordinary people deserved dignity, healthcare, education, housing, food and a government that served human beings rather than simply serving wealth and power.

Carter was a Southern Progressive with a deep commitment to Human Rights, peace, poverty reduction and the Common Good. Castro built his politics around the idea that society had an obligation to provide for people who had historically been left behind.

That’s the part that speaks to my worldview. I’m much more interested in what people are actually fighting for than in the Cold War boxes we’re expected to put them in. Two people can come from completely different political traditions and still recognize the same fundamental truth: human life should matter more than profit, domination or political tribalism.

That’s why I love the Carter legacy. It reminds me that Progressive politics at its best is bigger than party labels. It’s about human dignity, economic justice, peace and the belief that ordinary people deserve better.