What Is Progressivism?

Progressivism is a political term that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century.  The root word, progress, is defined as moving or “progressing” past historical documents such as the Declration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.  Progressives see these documents as outdated and therefore no longer have relevant meaning in the way our government works today.  They believe in the “collective rights” instead of the “individual rights” that our founders held so dear. 

Made popular in the early 1900’s, the Progressive Movement was spearheaded by the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Roosevelt (Theodore’s 5th cousin).  The Progressive Movement (or Era) is responsible for giving us such atrocities as the Federal Income Tax (aka. Progressive Income Tax), the Federal Reserve ( which has destroyed the value of the U.S. Dollar), Social Security, and Medicare among countless other government programs. 

I know I know.  You’re saying Social Security and Medicare are bad?  The fact of the matter is these programs (along with welfare) were created to do only one thing, take money away from the people who have it, and give it to the people who don’t.   Not to mention the fact that both of these programs are bankrupting this nation. (see http://www.usdebtclock.org  at the very bottom you’ll see our future liabilities for these programs at $111,000,000,000,000.  That’s $111 trillion in the hole at the time of this post)

I caught your attention there didn’t I?  Let me give you one example.  When Social Security first went into effect (signed in 1935, effective 1937) the retirement age was set at 65 years old.  However, the average lifespan at the time was about 58 for men and 62 for women.  So what does this mean?  The whole idea of social security as it was designed, was for you to pay the taxes, but never get anything in return.

The following is a quote from Thomas Jefferson I’d like you to ponder.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. – Thomas Jefferson

The federal government is not supposed to take care of us.  It is supposed to protect from us from people like Hitler, Admiral Yamamoto(who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor), and King George III.  We are supposed to take care of ourselves and our familes and friends. 

You see, our Founders believed that we get our rights from one place.  God.  God gives us our rights and we lend them to the government.  Government cannot create rights for the people.  Mainly because if they can create rights, they can take them away as well.  Historically, once you lose liberties, you never get them back.  Life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness are only a portion of the rights given to us by God.  It is a fact, as government gets bigger, the people will lose their liberty slowly over time.

Big government is one of the fundamentals of progressivism.  Progressives believe goverment can provide good solutions ALL the time.  In the words of one famous president, “Government is not the solution to our problem, government IS the problem”.

Thats not to say that government does not have its place.  In fact, the Constitution is quite clear as to what the Federal government can do, and the 10th amendment says if its not in the Constitution, then it is up to the States.