[JustSayNoToNannies]

"The new tendency of which I speak, however, proceeds from the assumption that society is an organism, and that the individual is a part of a larger whole."

So is the following conservative or 'progressive' thought?

'The state exists to PROTECT COMMUNITIES ~ not just "the rights of individuals".'

[little jeremiah]

I don’t argue with lunatics, just as I don’t step in dog poop.

[ProgressingAmerica]

It’s progressive thought. This article should help, it addresses many of the same words from Ely that I do.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/283075/progressivism-race-and-training-wheels-freedom-tiffany-jones-miller?pg=3

You’re right that the state is to protect both individuals and communities, but that’s not what Ely is getting at. He’s talking about the transition from individualism - and groups of individuals, to a collective - like a behive, where you and I are not individuals anymore. We are units.